Television System, Television Set and Remote Controller

ABSTRACT

In response to an operation such as power-on or power-off, channel change and sound volume change, a television set combined with a personal computer automatically makes e-mail with information in a predetermined format indicative of the operation attached. The e-mail is automatically sent to another television set to inform the other television set of operation of the own television set. On the other hand, the e-mail can be sent to a rating company for audience share survey. The television set automatically reads the received e-mail and attachment to change the indication of display. The television set has storage of the received information for analysis of an abnormality. Abnormality can be also sensed through abnormal act on the remote controller apt to be taken by a person in panic or off the truck. The television set refuses information from unknown address for blocking an attack of a stranger.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a Continuation Application of U.S. application Ser.No. 15/635,266 filed Jun. 28, 2017, which is a Continuation Applicationof U.S. application Ser. No. 15/067,240 filed Mar. 11, 2016, which is aContinuation Application of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/145,935 filedJan. 1, 2014, which is a Continuation Application of U.S. applicationSer. No. 13/345,746 filed Jan. 8, 2012, which is a ContinuationApplication of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/697,413 filed Apr. 6, 2007,herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a television system, a television set withcommunication function and a remote controller for an appliance, such astelevision set.

2. Description of the Related Art

For example, a son having left his home town far away because of his jobdesires to keep a warm eye on his old mother living alone in the hometown. Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2005-228012 discloses asystem including a digital television set in a single-person home, anaudience information gathering center and an emergency service center,which are connected through communication network. The audienceinformation gathering center receives the audience information from thedigital television set to transmit the same to the emergency servicecenter, which updates the operation date and time in response to thereceived audience information. Among the updated audience information,the emergency service center detects any audience information, which hasnot been updated for a period longer than a predetermined limit, toinform a caring terminal of a message for confirming the safety of thesingle-person home where the digital television set is located. In thisfield of art, however, the monitoring of a single-person home or thelike generally requires large scale system.

On the other hand, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2004-265219discloses a television set combined with a personal computer capable soexchange e-mails through the television set. However, e-mail sendingrequires some knowledge in addition to that in merely watchingtelevision.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of this invention is to provide a safety monitoring systemwhich can be easily realized on the basis of existing system in home.

Another object of this invention is to provide a television set whichcan transmit information to the outside for various purposes.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a television seteasily inform the outside of the safety in the home where the televisionset is located.

To achieve one of the above objects, this invention provides atelevision system including a television set and an outside counterpartwhich communicate each other.

For such a system, this invention provides a television set comprising atelevision function unit, a detector arranged to detect a cause ofchange in the television function, a communicator arranged tocommunicate with an outside counterpart by means of designating anaddress of the counter part, an input arranged to prepare a firstinformation of a free contents, a first designator arranged to freelydesignate a desired address to which the first information is sent, afirst trigger arranged to manually send the first information throughthe communicator, an automatic generator of a second information of aprepared contents in response to the detector which detects a cause of apredetermined change in the television function, a second designatorarranged to automatically designate a predetermined address to which thesecond information is sent, and a second trigger arranged toautomatically send the second information through the communicator inresponse to the completion of the function of the automatic generatorand the second designator.

According to the above feature of this invention, information ofprepared contents is automatically generated in response to apredetermined change in the television function with a predeterminedaddress automatically added. Further, the information is automaticallysent in response to the completion of the automatic generation of theinformation. The above function is carried out on an existingcommunicator in the television set and automatically without anyknowledge in addition to that in merely watching television.

In the television set according to a detailed feature of this invention,the detector includes a receiver arranged to receive a signal from aremote controller. In other words, the conventional operation of theremote controller can be transmitted to the outside counterpart. Forexample, the change in the television function is the change in at leastone of the power-on or power-off, the channel selection and soundvolume.

In the television set according to another detailed feature of thisinvention, the automatic generator is arranged to generate the secondinformation in accordance with a predetermined format. According to moredetailed feature of this invention, the automatic generator is arrangedto generate an e-mail to which the second information in thepredetermined format is attached. These features each or in combinationare advantageous the automatic treatment of the information.

According to another detailed feature of this invention, the seconddesignator is arranged to designate an address of another television setlocated at a familiar home. Thus, one of the familiar homes can keep awarm eye on the other home mutually on each television set. Moreover,the familiar homes actually far away from each other can feel as if theyare one family on the connection through the television sets.

According to another detailed feature of this invention, on the otherhand, the second designator is arranged to designate an address of arating company in charge of an audience share survey. Thus, thisinvention presents a novel and easy audience rating survey system ofhigher reliability and efficiency than a conventional system on asampling by a special apparatus and statistics method.

According to still another detailed feature of this invention, thetelevision set further comprises a second detector arranged to detect anabnormal use of the television set, wherein the automatic generator isfurther responsive to the second detector. In this case, the seconddesignator may be arranged to designate an address of an emergencyorganization in place of or in addition to the familiar home.

To achieve the above discussed objects, this invention also provides atelevision set comprising a television function unit, a display arrangedto display a broadcast program in accordance with the televisionfunction unit, a communicator arranged to communicate with an outsidecounterpart, a receiver arranged to receive information form the outsidecounterpart through the communicator, and a controller arranged toautomatically change the display in response to the receipt of theinformation by the receiver from a predetermined outside counterpart.

According to the above feature of this invention, the television displayis automatically changed in response to the receipt of the informationfrom a predetermined outside counterpart. Thus, any change in thepredetermined out side counterpart is know on the own television set.The above function is also carried out on an existing communicator inthe television set and automatically without any knowledge in additionto that in merely watching television. Also in this case, it ismeaningful to arrange the television set so that the predeterminedcounterpart is another television set located at a familiar home, andthat the received information includes a change in at least one of thepower-on or power-off, the channel selection and sound volume of theanother television set.

In more detail, the television set is so designed that the controllerdisplays the channel selection of the other television set with thelocal channel number. In other words, the channel number for the othertelevision set may not be the channel number actually selected at thearea of the other television set as it is, but a converted local channelnumber. This is because that the channel numbers for the same broadcastprogram may differs in areas, and a family may not familiar with thechannel number actually selected in the area of the other television setlocated far away.

According to another detailed feature of this invention, the televisionset is so designed that the controller is arranged to change the displayif the broadcast program identified by the channel selection of theother television set coincides with the broadcast program displayed inaccordance with the television function unit. The change in display inthis case is a change in color or blink of the channel number displayfor example. This makes it easier for both the families to note thatthey share the same experience as if they live together.

According to another detailed feature of this invention, the televisionset is so designed that the controller is arranged to make it possibleto replace the broadcast program displayed in accordance with thetelevision function unit by another broadcast program identified by thechannel selection of the other television set. This makes it easier forone family to share the same experience or to check the broadcastprogram which the other family is watching.

According to another detailed feature of this invention, the televisionset further comprises a storage arranged to record the receivedinformation and an analyzer arranged to detect an abnormality in thepredetermined outside counterpart on the basis of an analysis of therecorded information.

According to another detailed feature of this invention, on the otherhand, the television set is so designed that the received informationincludes a sign of abnormality in the predetermined outside counterpart.

The above features are highly advantageous for one family to knowpossible abnormality of the other family.

According to another feature of this invention, the television set is sodesigned that the receiver is arranged to refuse receiving informationother than the information from the predetermined outside counterpartfor automatically change the display. This feature is advantageous forprotecting the television set from virus otherwise suffered from theconstant connection.

To achieve the above discussed objects, this invention also provides aremote controller for an appliance comprising an operating partincluding a plurality of keys each of which are assigned topredetermined functions, respectively, a signal transmitter arranged totransmit a control signal to the appliance in response to the operationin the operating part, first controller arranged to determine the signalindicative of one of the predetermined functions to be transmitted tothe appliance in response to an operation of at least one of the keys incompliance with a predetermined manner, and a second controller arrangedto have the signal transmitter to transmit a signal indicative of anabnormality to the appliance in response to an operation of theoperating part which does not comply with the predetermined manner, butcorresponds to a predetermined abnormal manner.

In the above remote controller, the appliance is for example atelevision set including a communicator arranged to communicate with anoutside counterpart by means of designating an address of the counterpart.

And, an example of the predetermined abnormal manner includes at leastone of such manners that three keys or more are pushed at once and thatthe same key or a group of closely arranged keys is pushed more than apredetermined times in a limited period.

According to the above and its detailed features, a person even in panicor off his or her truck can report the emergency on the remotecontroller by means of a simple action not to be taken by a normalperson, but is apt to be taken by a person in panic or off the truck.Further, a possibility of erroneous emergency report is relatively lowbecause the assumed action in the features above would not be taken by anormal person. Further the feature above does not require any regularexercise and maintenance to keep the reliability of emergency reportsince the remote controller is in daily use.

Other features and advantages according to this invention will bereadily understood from the detailed description of the preferredembodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a television set system according to anembodiment of this invention.

FIG. 2 is an example of the picture on the display of own televisionset, in which broadcast program is displayed.

FIG. 3 is an example of the picture on the display of the othertelevision set at the same time as that at FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the basic function of the television set inFIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the detail of step 2 in FIG. 4 thatrelates to the start-up process for the television function and thecommunication function.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the detail of the personal computerstart-up process in step S43 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the detail of display process in step 6of FIG. 4.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the detail of the setting process in stepS122 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing the detail of the automatic e-mailsending process carried out in any of steps S4, S10, S14, S22 and S30 ofFIG. 4.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing the detail of the automatic informationstorage process in step S26 of FIG. 4 and step S52 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing the detail of the other channel displayprocess in step S110 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart showing the detail of the photograph informationdisplay process in step 118 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing the detail of the monitoring informationdisplay process in step S114 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 14 is a flow chart for the process of automatically changing theregistration of the regularly viewed broadcast program and automaticallysending an e-mail with the information of such a change attached.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart showing the detail of the automatic photographe-mail sending process in step S18 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 16 is a flow chart of the function of the controller of thetelevision set of own home to urgently inform the other home of thedetected serious abnormality by means of e-mail.

FIG. 17 is a flow chart of the function of the controller of thetelevision set when it receives the urgent e-mail.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram of a remote controller for the television setaccording to the embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram of the digital camera in FIG. 1.

FIG. 20 is a flow chart showing the function in part carried out by thecontroller of digital camera in FIG. 19 relating to sharing aregistration of address for automatic sending between digital camera andthe television set.

FIG. 21 is a flow chart showing the function in part carried out by thecontroller of digital camera in FIG. 19 relating to the selection ofphotograph to be input into the television set.

FIG. 22 is a flow chart showing the detail of step 350 in FIG. 15 thatrelates to the photograph display and manual selection process.

FIG. 23 is a table for showing a unique format of the information to beattached to e-mail exchanged between the television sets.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a television set system according to anembodiment of this invention. The system includes the first home 1 withthe first television set 2 and the second home 3 with the secondtelevision set 4, the second home 3 being located far from the firsthome 1. For example, the first home 1 is of a family of a son leavinghis home town because of his job and the second home 3 is of his oldmother living alone in the home town. This invention, however, is notlimited to an application to a pair of homes, but also is applicable tomore than two homes, such as a home of a family, a home of the wife'sparents and a home of the husband's parents, the three homes being faraway from another, respectively. The following explanation will bebasically made on the basis of a simplified model including of two homeswith some comments on the case of more than two homes added uponnecessity.

Thus, this invention relates to a daily information exchange by way oftelevision sets between homes far away from each other to keep a warmeye on the other family or to share the same experience as if they alllive together in a happy circle.

The first television set 2 includes the first controller 5 whichcontrols not only the ordinary television function, but also functionsas a personal computer in combination with the first memory 6. The firstremote controller 7 originally for ordinary television control and thefirst display 8 originally for ordinary television monitor also functionas graphical interface of the first controller as the personal computer.

The first memory 6 includes a hard disc drive, ROM and RAM for storingthe computer software and various data. The first memory 6 is of a largecapacity which can store not only the software computer software andvarious data, but also television program.

The second television set 4 also includes the second controller 9, thesecond memory 10, the second remote controller 11 and the second display12, which are similar to the first controller 5, the first memory 6, thefirst remote controller 7 and the first display 8, respectively, of theexplanation thereof being omitted for avoiding the repetition.

In response to an operation of the first remote controller 7, infraredlight signal is sent to the first remote control receiver 13, which istransmitted to the first controller to function in response to theoperation of the first remote controller 7. The second remote controlreceiver 14 has the similar function.

The first television set 2 further includes the first communicator 15which is in communication with the outside counterpart throughalways-connected Internet. The first communicator 15 is capable of theconventional internet or e-mail communication, in which e-mail exchangeis possible by means of freely inputting information through the firstremote controller 7 to prepare a conventional e-mail contents, freelydesignating a desired address to which the input information is sent,and manually triggering through the first remote controller 7 to sendthe information through the internet.

The first communicator 15 is not only capable of the conventionalinternet or e-mail communication under control of the first controller5, but also is capable of functioning as a bare-bones personal computerto at least be informed by a server of a receipt of an e-mail addressedto the first television set 2 by means of being constantly powered evenif the hardware and the software of the first controller 5 is ininoperative condition. This is for automatically turning the firsttelevision set 2 into on state by detecting a receipt of an urgente-mail from the second television set 4 with the first television set isin off state. The second communicator 16 of the second television set 4is of the similar function. The function of the first and secondcommunicators 15 and 16 are explained later in more detail.

As has been understood from the above explanation, the first and secondtelevision sets 2 and 4 are in normal communication with each other forpleasure by means of broadband line through the first and communicators15 and 16 for one side to inform the other side of television programwhich is watched on the one side and vice versa. Moreover, the one sideis urgently informed of an abnormality of the other side and vice versa.In FIG. 1, the first and communicators 15 and 16 are shown as if theyare directly connected. In reality, however, they are in connectionthrough the broadband line.

In the case of enjoining conventional television program through thefirst television set 2, one of television channels is selected by thefirst remote controller 7. And, the desired program on the airwave 17 isturned by the first tuner 18 to appear on the first display 8 under thecontrol of the first display controller 19. This is also true in thecase of the second television set 4 in relation to airwave 20, thesecond tuner 21 and the second display controller 22.

The first memory 6 of the first television set 2 stores not only thetelevision program transmitted on airwave 17 from a broadcast station inreal time, but also the television program data downloaded from a serverstation on internet by way of the first communicator 15. This is alsotrue in the case of the second television set 4 in relation to thesecond memory 10.

The first storage information 23 in the first memory 6 includesinformation attached to e-mail received from the second home 3 with thedate and time of receipt incorporated. The first storage information 23also includes information of the first home 1 itself attached to e-mailsent to the second home 3 with the date and time of transmittalincorporated. Similarly, the second storage information 24 in the secondmemory 10 includes information attached to e-mail received from thefirst home 1 with the date and time of receipt incorporated, as well asinformation of the second home 3 itself attached to e-mail sent to thefirst home 1 with the date and time of transmittal incorporated. Thelatest information is identifiable in the first storage information 23.The archival analysis of information in the first storage is alsopossible. These are true also in the second storage information 24.

The e-mail is automatically produced and sent upon every turning on oroff of the television set as well as upon every change in the channel ofthe television set with the information of date and time as well as theselected channel automatically attached to the e-mail. The receivede-mail with its attachment is automatically read and accumulated as thefirst and second storage information 23 and 24, respectively. So, theperson in the first home 1 is informed of the television program whichthe person in the second home 3 is now watching, and vise versa, if thechannel numbers attached to the latest e-mails mutually exchanged areindicated on first display 8 and the second display 12, respectively,provided that both the first and second television sets 2 and 4 are inon state. Thus, both the families can mutually confirm their doing well.Moreover, the families at remote locations from each other feelthemselves as if they are a company in the same room if they mutuallyknow that they are sharing the same television program substantially atthe same time.

In the embodiment of this invention, it is needless to say thatconventional e-mail, its receipt is reported by a server throughinternet, is manually read, any attachment to the e-mail being alsomanually read, by operating the first remote controller 7. Thus, thecontents of conventional e-mail and its attachment manually read isdisplayed on the first display in response to the operation of the firstremote controller 7 in contrast to the case of e-mail according to thefeature of this invention automatically read.

The first display memory 25 is mainly for controlling the first display8 for the display of still image necessary for the function of the firsttelevision set 2 as a personal computer or setting of various functionof the first television set 2. The first display memory 25 also keepsthe image of channel number related to the latest television programselected by the second television set 4 unless the second television set4 is turned off or its channel selection is changed. The first displaycontroller 19 overlaps the still image of channel number for the secondtelevision set 4 kept by the first display memory 25 on the televisionprogram moving image from the first tuner 18 for display on the firstdisplay 8. This is also true in the case of the second television set 4in relation to the second display memory 26. In other words, the seconddisplay controller 22 overlaps the still image of latest channel numberfor the first television set 2 kept by the second display memory 26 onthe television program moving image from the second tuner 21 for displayon the second display 12.

The first display controller 19 does not only overlap the still image ofchannel number kept by the first display memory 25 on the televisionprogram moving image from the first tuner 18, but also completelysubstitutes the still image of channel number of the second televisionset 4 for an image according to the conventional function of the firsttelevision set 2 under the control of the first controller 5. Forexample, a still image according to a personal computer function or amoving image according to a stored television program from the firstmemory 6 may be completely replaced by still image of channel number forthe second television set 4. This is because that the still image of apersonal computer function or a moving image of a stored televisionprogram can be completely interrupted without any problem by the stillimage of channel number for the second television set 4. Such apossibility of complete substitution is also true in the case of thesecond television set 4.

The first television set 2 also serves as a total controller of all thehome electric appliances in the first home 1 by means of monitoring theconditions thereof through home network to control them on necessity.For example, the first controller 5 is connected with the first homeelectric appliance 27 outside the first television set 2. In FIG. 1,there is only one home electric appliance is shown for simplification.However, various many home electric appliances are connected to thefirst controller in actuality as has been mentioned above. Further, thefirst controller 5 can be connected not only with the home electricappliances, but also with other equipments or tools in the first home 1,such as bed, for monitoring their conditions or controlling them. Thelock system of the entrance door of the first home 1 is another exampleto be connected to the first controller 5, wherein the outing and cominghome of the family in the first home 1 can be more surely monitored incombination with the turning on and off of the first television set 2.

Similarly, the second controller 9 of the second television set 4 alsoserves as a total controller of all the home electric appliances in thesecond home 3 by means of monitoring the conditions thereof through homenetwork to control them on necessity. In FIG. 1, only the second homeelectric appliance 28 is shown for simplification. However, various manyhome electric appliances as well as other home equipments or tools areconnected to the second controller 9 in actuality as in the case of thefirst controller 5.

With respect to the home electric appliances, the first and secondcontrollers 5 and 9 automatically produce and send e-mails,respectively, upon every turning on or off operation of the electricappliance with the information of date and time of such operationattached. The received e-mail with its attachment is automatically readand accumulated as the first and second storage information 23 and 24,respectively. So, the person in the first home 1 is informed of theusage of each electric appliance by the person in the second home 3, andvise versa, if the information of the home electric appliance attachedto the latest e-mails mutually exchanged are indicated on first display8 and the second display 12, respectively. Thus, both the families canmutually confirm their doing well in using the home electric appliancesas usual.

The first controller 5 of the first television set 2 is also incommunication with digital camera 29 for exchanging digital photographinformation (herein after referred to as “photograph”). There arevarious ways for the first controller 5 to receive photographs fromdigital camera 29, such as a cable or wireless or cradle connectionbetween digital camera 29 and the first controller 5, or memory cardtaking out of digital camera 29 and putting into a slot connected to thefirst controller 5.

The photographs taken into the first controller 5 is stored in the firstmemory 6, which are possible to be viewed on the first television set 2in any time. Further, the photographs stored in the first memory 6 arepossible to be sent to the second home 3. Such a sending of thephotographs from the first home 1 to the second home 3 can be automated.For example, if each photograph to be automatically sent is selected andmarked within digital camera 29 in advance, the marked photographs areautomatically attached to an e-mail to the second home 3 which isautomatically produced and sent from the first communicator 15 everytime when the photographs are taken into the first controller 5. Thee-mail received at the second communicator 16 is automatically read toautomatically store the attached photographs in the second memory 10 aswell as to accumulate the fact of receipt of the photographs as thesecond storage information 24. Thus, the fact of photograph receipt canbe indicated on the second display 12 in response to the latest secondstorage information 24.

Digital camera 29 is only shown at the first home 1 in FIG. 1. However,similar photograph transmission form the second home 3 to the first home1 is possible if photographs are taken into the second controller 9 froma digital camera.

The first television set also includes the first camera 30 connected tothe first controller 5 and faced toward a person watching the firsttelevision set 2. The first camera 30 is a television camera for use invideophone or monitoring of the other home upon emergency. The firstremote controller 7 has a microphone and a speaker, as will be explainedin more detail, for making it possible to use the first remotecontroller 7 as a phone receiver upon videophone conversation. Thus, thefirst camera takes a moving picture of a member of the first home 1 whospeaking with the first remote controller 7 to send the moving pictureto the second television set 4. The videophone line is over the Webthrough the first communicator 15. The second television set 4 also hasthe second camera 31, the explanation thereof being omitted for avoidinga duplication of the case of the first camera 30.

Upon emergency such as the case that some abnormality on the second home3 reported by an automatic e-mail from the second television set 4 isindicated on the first television set 2, an emergency e-mail is sentfrom the first communicator 15 with an attachment information, whichorders the second camera 31 to take a moving picture of the second home3 with the most wide angle setting and to attach the taken picture to anautomatic return e-mail. Thus, the second camera 31 is remote controlledfrom the first home 1 to monitor the second home 3 within the angle ofthe second camera 31.

FIG. 2 is an example of the picture on the first display 8, in whichbroadcast program 51 is displayed. The upper-right corner of the firstdisplay 8 is for indicating channel number 52 of the first home 1, e.g.,own channel number. In other words, broadcast program 51 received by thefirst television set 2 is of channel “2”.

On the other hand, the upper-left corner of the first display 8 is forindicating channel number 53 of the second home 3, e.g., the otherchannel number. This means that the second television set 4 of thesecond home 3 is now in the on state to enjoy a broadcast program ofchannel “12”. On the contrary, there is no indication at the upper-leftcorner portion for channel number 53 of the first display 8 if thesecond television set 4 is in off state. In place of no indication,characters, “OFF” may be indicated at the upper-left corner portion 53.

It should be noted that the channel number 53 indicated at theupper-left corner portion may not be the channel number actuallyselected at the area of the second television set 4 as it is, but aconverted channel number, i.e., the channel number of the correspondingbroadcast program selectable in the area of the first television set 2.This is because that the channel numbers for the same broadcast programmay differs in areas, and the family living in the area of the firsttelevision set 2 may not familiar with the channel number actuallyselected in the area of the second television set 4.

At the upper-left corner of the first display 8, electric appliance icon54 of the second home, e.g., an icon of the washing machine is displayedto indicate that the washing machine of the second home 3 is working. Onthe contrary, if no electric appliance is working in the second home 3,no icon is displayed at the position of icon 54. If another electricappliance other than the washing machine, an icon indicating the workingelectric appliance is displayed at the position of icon 54. Thus, thedaily life in the second home 3 relating to the electric appliances canbe monitored from the first home 1. In other word, a person in the firsthome 1 can know a possible abnormality in the second home 3 if theexpected icon does not appear at the position of icon 54 at an expectedregular time. So the person can quickly contact the second home ifnecessary.

At the upper-left corner of the first display 8, camera icon 55 appearswhen photographs are sent via e-mail from the first home 1 to the secondhome 3. Camera icon 55 disappears when an e-mail from the second home 3indicating that the photographs are viewed is received. On the otherhand, the arrival of the photograph via e-mail is displayed on thesecond display 12 with a suitable icon for facilitating a person in thesecond home 3 to view the photographs. Thus, a person in the first home1 can know a possible trouble in the second home 3 disabling thephotographs viewing if icon 55 is not to disappear for a long time. Sothe person of the first home 1 can quickly contact the second home ifnecessary.

If a third home exists in addition to the second home 3, it is necessaryto for the first display 8 to display icons of the channel number, theelectric appliance, and the camera also for the third home. In such acase, the order of priority of home is preset to initially indicate theicons for home of the first priority of concern. And, the icons for homeof the second priority will replace the icons of the first priority ifthe first remote controller 7 is operated upon necessity.

Or, all the icons of both the second and third homes can be displayed atonce if two columns of icons are layout at the upper-left corner of thefirst display 8 with each column assigned to each home, respectively. Inthis case, it is preferable to locate an icon identifying the assignedhome at the top of each column.

Even in a case that the second home 3 is the only concern of the firsthome 1, the above idea of priority is useful if the condition of aplurality of electric appliances are to be monitored. Namely, the orderof priority of electric appliance is preset to initially indicate theicon for electric appliance of the first priority in working condition.And, the icon for anther electric appliance of the second priority inworking condition if any will replace the icon of the first priority ifthe first remote controller 7 is operated upon necessity.

Alternatively, all the electric appliances in working condition are tobe displayed. Or, all the electric appliances are to be displayedregardless of their condition in working or not with the indicationcolor of the electric appliance in working condition different from theelectric appliance in rest condition.

FIG. 3 is an example of the picture on the second display 12 of thesecond television set 4 at the same time as that at FIG. 2. In contrastto that channel number 53 at the upper-left corner of the first display8 in FIG. 2, which indicates the channel number of the second home 3,e.g., the other channel number of the first home 1, is “12”, channelnumber 61 at the upper-right corner of the second display 12 in FIG. 3,which indicates the channel number of the second home 3, e.g., ownchannel number of the second home 3, is “3”. This is because that thechannel actually selected in the second home 3 in its broadcast area is“3”, which is converted into “12” indicating the corresponding channelnumber under which the same broadcast program comes on the air in thebroadcast area where the first home 1 lives.

At the upper-left corner of the second display 12 in FIG. 3, channelnumber 62 indicating “1” is displayed to show that the broadcast programunder channel “1” is now enjoyed ins the first home 1. It should benoted again that the channel actually selected in the first home 1 inits broadcast area is “2”, which is converted into “1” indicating thecorresponding channel number under which the same broadcast programcomes on the air in the broadcast area where the second home 3 lives.

At the upper-right corner of the second display 12, icon 63 of cameraappears when photographs are received via e-mail from the first home 1to the second home 3. Icon 63 disappears when the photographs are viewedin the second home 3, while icon 63 remains if the photographs are leftunseen. When the photographs are viewed in the second home 3, an e-mailis automatically created and sent to inform the first home 1 of the factthat the photographs are viewed in the second home 3. As has beenexplained, the arrival of such an e-mail has icon 55 in the firstdisplay 8 disappear. In other word, icon 63 in the second display 12 andicon 55 in the first display 12 disappear almost at the same time with adelay of e-mail transmission.

Both in FIGS. 2 and 3, icons relating to information of own home arelocated at the right side of the first display 8 or the second display12, while icons relating to information of the other home are located atthe left side of the first display 8 or the second display 12. Thislayout of icon isolation avoids confusion of icon interpretation.

Icons 52 and 61 for own channel number and icons 53 and 62 for the otherchannel number as well as other various icons 54, 55 and 63 may bearranged to appear in the first display 8 and the second display 12 atany time as long as the functions relating to the icons are in workingcondition. Alternatively, the icon indication may be arranged to appearfor a limited period, e.g., 10 seconds, initiating from an occurrence ofany change in the first television set 2 or the second television set 4so as to automatically disappear after the lapse of the limited periodfor avoiding complex indication in the first and second displays 8 and12.

In FIG. 2, for example, icons 52 to 55 appearing upon powering the firsttelevision set 2 automatically disappear after the lapse of the limitedtime. However, they appear again if channel is changed, theydisappearing again after the lapse of the limited time after the channelchanging. Thus, every time when channel is changed in the first home 1,the latest channel for the second home 3 is confirmed by the first home1.

In place of the change in the first television set 2, the change in thesecond home 4 such as in the second television set 4 of in the secondhome electric appliance 28 causes the appearance of icons 52 to 55 inthe first display 8 upon the arrival of an automatic e-mail withattachment informing of such a change in the second home 4. Icons willdisappear again after the lapse of the limited period following thee-mail arrival. Thus, the first home 1 can quickly note the change inthe second home 3 on the first display 8.

However, such appearance of icons 52 to 55 may possibly be overlooked inthe first home 1 concentrating on an exciting program since theappearance of icons 52 to 55 is not caused by any own action in thefirst home 1. To this, icons 52 to 55 are arranged to blink uponappearance caused by the second home 3. Alternatively, icons 52 to 55may appear in enlarged size to occupy the entire area of the firstdisplay 8 for a moment to call for attention of the first home 1. Inaddition to or in place of such a visible means for calling forattention, an audible means such as beep or chime accompanying theappearance of icons 52 to 55 is useful.

Both in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, at least one channel number is highlighted ifboth the first and second homes 1 and 3 share the same broadcastprogram. In FIG. 2, for example, if the channel is changed in the secondhome 3 causing the indication at channel number 53 of the first display8 to change from “12” to “2” which is he same program now enjoyed in thefirst home 1, some change in one or both of channel numbers 52 and 53 iscaused to inform the first home 1 of the fact that both the homes sharethe same experience as if a family living together. For example, one orboth of channel numbers 52 and 53 are to blink, or change its color, orbe enlarged if both the channel numbers are matched.

Further, both in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, it is possible to arrange any of thefirst and second television sets 2 and 4 so as to easily and quicklychange the channel number into one viewed in the other home. In FIG. 2,for example, if it is desired in the first home 1 to view the samebroadcast program of channel “12” at the channel number 53, which isviewed in the second home 3, channel number 52 can be instantly changedfrom “2” to “12” by pushing a predetermined key of the first remotecontroller 7. This operation is universally possible by the samepredetermined key regardless of the second channel number 53 indicated.This is because that the first storage information 23 of the firsttelevision set 2 has the information of the channel number for the otherhome gotten via e-mail, which is taken out in response to the operationof the same predetermined key.

In FIG. 2, such a setting is possible that the icons at the left side ofthe first display 8 relating to the information of the second home 3 arenot indicated at all. In other words, one of a sophisticated first modeof indicating information of the other home and a simplified second modeof non-indication of the other home information is selectable. Theselection is possible by operating the first remote controller 7.

The second television set 4 is also capable of the above selection ofone of the sophisticated first mode and the simplified second mode bymeans of the second remote controller 11.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the basic function of the first controller 5or the second controller 9 in FIG. 1. In the following explanation,however, the flow chart is for the first controller 5 with the firsttelevision set 2 referred to as “the own television set” while thesecond television set 4 as “the other television set”. Since thefunction of the second controller 9 is readily understood if therelationship between “the own television set” and “the other televisionset”, the explanation will be omitted unless special comment isnecessary.

The flow in FIG. 4 starts when the first television set 2 is powered byoperating a power key of the first remote controller 7 to advance tostep S2, in which the start-up process for the television function andthe communication function is carried out. The details of the start-upprocess will be explained later.

Next, in step S4, the automatic e-mail sending process is carried outfor informing the second television set 4 (herein after referred to as“the other television set”) of the power-on of the first television set2 (herein after referred to as “the own television set”). If there isany other information such as the channel number, or the state of thefirst home electric appliance 27, the information is also attached tothe e-mail. The automatic e-mail sending process in step S4 is similarto those appears in other steps, the details of the process beingexplained later.

Next, in step S6, display process is carried out, in which the displayexplained with respect to FIGS. 2 and 3 relating to the change inconditions of the own television set or the other television set istreated, the details of which will be described later.

Following the above steps, the flow checks in step S8 whether or not anyoperation, such as the change in channel or volume, is done in the owntelevision set. If some operation is detected in step S8, the flowadvances to step S10 for automatic e-mail sending process to inform theother television set of the operation, the flow then going to step S12.If any operation is not detected in step S8, on the other hand, the flowdirectly goes to step S12.

In step S12, it is checked whether or not any change such as power-on orpower-off, in the first home electric appliance (herein after referredto as “the own electric appliance”) occurs. If some change in the ownelectric appliance is detected in step S12, the flow advances to stepS14 for automatic e-mail sending process to inform the other televisionset of the change, the flow then going to step S16. If any change is notdetected in step S12, on the other hand, the flow directly goes to stepS16.

In step S16, it is checked whether or not any photograph taken the firstdigital camera 29 is input into the first controller 5 by some meansalready explained. If some photograph input is detected in step S16, theflow advances to step S18 for automatic e-mail sending process to sendthe photograph to the other television set, the flow then going to stepS20. If any photograph input is not detected in step S16, on the otherhand, the flow directly goes to step S20.

In step S20, it is checked whether or not a operation for viewing areceived photograph is done by means of the first remote controller 7.If the operation is detected in step S20, the flow advances to step S22for automatic e-mail sending process to inform the other television setof the photograph viewing operation, the flow then going to step S24. Ifany photograph viewing operation is not detected in step S20, on theother hand, the flow directly goes to step S24.

In step S24, it is checked whether or not any e-mail form the othertelevision set is received. If the receipt of the e-mail is detected instep S24, the flow advances to step S26 for automatic informationstorage process to automatically read the e-mail and the attachment tostore the contents of the attachment into the first memory 6 as thefirst storage information 23, the flow then going to step S28. If anyreceipt of e-mail is not detected in step S24, on the other hand, theflow directly goes to step S28.

The steps S8 to S22 of the first controller 5 are explained for thefirst television set 2 to inform the second television set 4 of thecondition of the first home 1. The similar function is also carried outby the second controller 9 in the second television set 4. Thus, anychange in condition of the second home 3 automatically causes an e-mailinforming the first television set 2 of the condition of the second home3.

The function in steps S24 and S26 for the first controller 5 is toautomatically read the e-mail thus sent from the second television set 4to store the information in the attachment thereof into the first memory6 for looking after the second home 3

In step S28, it is checked whether or not a power-off operation is done.If the power-off operation is not detected in step S28, the flow returnsto step S6. Therefore, if some change in the first storage information23 is caused by the automatic information storage process in step SS28,the indication in the first display 8 is changed by display process instep 8. Thus, the condition in the second home 3 is monitored in thefirst display 8.

Unless the power-off operation is detected in step S28, the flow repeatsthe loop of steps S6 to S28. During the repletion of the loop, an e-mailis sent to the second television set 4 if any change occurs on the sideof the first home 1, and the indication on the first display 8 ischanged if any change occurs on the side of the second home 3.

On the other hand, if the power-off operation is detected in step S28,the flow advances to step S30, in which an automatic e-mail sendingprocess is carried out to inform the other television set of thepower-off of the own television set, the flow then going to step S32. Instep S32, the shutting down process is carried out to power-off the owntelevision set, the flow then go to the end.

Even in the power-off state, the first television set 2 is provided witha standby power, which keeps the first remote control receiver 13 in thestandby state to detect the infrared signal from the first remotecontroller 7 any time. Also, the first communicator 15 is provided witha standby power, which keeps the first communicator 15 in the standbystate to detect the arrival of e-mail to an outside server in constantconnection. The necessary elements in the second television set 4 arealso provided with a standby power in its power-off state for thesimilar functions.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the detail of step 2 in FIG. 4 thatrelates to the start-up process for the television function and thecommunication function. When the start-up process is initiated, the flowadvances to step S42 to start-up the television function. And the flowadvances to step S43, in which the personal computer start-up process iscarried out to start-up the basic function of the personal computerhardware and software. The personal computer start-up process, thedetail of which will be described later, includes a process for settingthe communication function of the personal computer to serve as thecommunicator for the television set according to this invention, whichis additional to and different from the conventional communicationfunction in the personal computer. The start-up process in step 43 islimited to start-up only the hardware and software which are necessaryto carry out the television set functions according to this inventionunless the conventional personal computer functions are requested. Sucha start-up process with limited function is advantageous to minimize thetime taken in the start-up of the television set.

Next, in step S44, the latest broadcast program schedule in the area ofthe own television set is downloaded through the internet, the programschedule stored in the first memory 6 being updated by the downloadedprogram schedule.

Further, in step S44, the latest broadcast program schedule in the areaof the other television set is downloaded through the internet, theprogram schedule stored in the first memory 6 being updated by thedownloaded program schedule.

The information of latest broadcast program schedule downloaded in steps44 and 45 can also be gotten through the airwave if it includes suchinformation in addition to the broadcast program.

The downloading and updating of the latest broadcast program schedule insteps 44 and 45 are followed by step S46 in which all the e-mailsreaching the server are automatically downloaded. All the downloadede-mails are automatically investigated in step S48. In this step,e-mails which have been downloaded in advance to step S46, i.e., alreadydownloaded e-mails which have not been read yet are also investigated.

After investigating e-mails, the flow advances to step S50 to checkwhere there is any unread e-mail. If any, the flow advances to step S52to execute the automatic information storage process, the flow thengoing to step S54. The automatic information storage process in step S52is similar to that in step S26 in FIG. 4, the details of which will beexplained later.

As has been explained, the indications on the first display 8 in FIG. 2are updated in response to the change in the information stored by theautomatic information storage process. In addition to such updatingduring the own television set is in power-on state, the first display 8is to perform a specific indication when the own television set isturned on. Steps 54 to 58 are necessary for such a specific indication.

Firstly, in step S54, it is checked in accordance with the first storageinformation whether or not the other television set is in power-on statewhen the own television set is turned on. If the other television set isin power-on state, the flow advances to step S56 to perform the othertelevision set power-on time indication process. This process is toindicate on the first display 8 the power-on time and the channel changetime to the current channel with respect to the other television set.The indication is made on the basis of the first storage information 23in such a manner that the indication is made with enlarged character todraw attention of the person of the first home 1.

The reason why the time indication above is made is as follows. Namely,the fact that the other television set is in power-on state at the timewhen the own television set is turned on by means of channel number 53appearing in the first display 8. However, it is unknown when the othertelevision set was turned on. In other word, for example, it cannot bedecided at all whether the other television set was turned on only 30minuets ago or the other television set are left in power-on state for 5hours. Therefore, the time when the other television set was turned onand the time when the channel was changed to the current channel areindicated in step 56. Thus, the history of the operation of the othertelevision set is known when the own television set is turned on, whichmakes the person of the first home 1 feel at ease in remotely watchingover the second home 3. In step S56, the time indication continues onlyfor a predetermined period e.g. 10 seconds, after the power-on of theown television set to automatically discontinue not for otherwiseneedlessly intercepting the broadcast program indication.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 54 that the othertelevision set is in power-off state, the flow goes to step S58 toexecute the other television set power-off time indication process.Thus, for example, it can be decided whether the other television setwas turned off just 10 minuets ago or the other television set are leftwithout turning on for entire one day. Thus, the person of the firsthome 1 feels at ease in remotely watching over the second home 3.

The other part of the other television set power-off time indicationprocess in step S58 is similar to the other television set power-on timeindication process in step S56. So, further explanation is omitted foravoiding a needless duplication.

As is apparent from the above, steps S54 to S58 are automaticallyexecuted only in the start-up process. As is understood by FIG. 4, oncethe other television set is turned on, the time or history of theoperation of the other television set is not indicated on the firstdisplay 8 even if there is some change in the operation of the othertelevision set, but only the current state, such as current channelnumber 53 is indicated. However, if the person in the first home 1 wantsto know the information of the time or history of the operation of theother television set, steps 54 to S58 respond any time to an operationof the first remote controller 7.

After termination of step S56 or S58, the flow goes to step S60 in whichthe information of own television set to be indicated on the firstdisplay or sent to the other television via e-mail is confirmed, andthen the flow terminating. The information to be confirmed in step S60includes the channel number of the first television set 2 and thecondition of the first home electric appliance 27.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the detail of the personal computerstart-up process in step S43 of FIG. 5. When the personal computerstart-up process is initiated, the flow advances to step S72 to start-upthe basic function of the personal computer. As has been explained, thebasic function is limited to start-up only the hardware and softwarewhich are necessary to carry out the television set functions accordingto this invention. In other words, the basic function is limited to thefunction relating to the first communicator 15.

And the flow advances to step S74 to check whether or not the switchingof the personal computer to the ordinary computer function is directedby the first remote controller 7. If such a switching direction is notdetected in step S74, the flow advances to step S76 to check whether ornot a predetermined time has passed since the starting-up of the basicfunction of the personal computer in step S72. The flow returns to stepS74 if the predetermined time has not passed in step S76. Thus, the flowwaits for the switching direction for the predetermined time.

If the switching is directed in step S74, the flow advances to step S78,in which the communication security of the ordinary level is set, theflow then going into ordinary personal computer functions in step S80.In other words, in step S80, the flow starts-up the ordinary softwareand hardware functions of the personal computer other than the basicfunction relating to the first communicator 15 which has been started-upin step S72. In step 80, the ordinary personal computer functions arecarried out in accordance with the operation by the user of the personalcomputer. Further, in step S80, it is possible to go to step S82 if thepersonal computer is switched buck to the television function inresponse to the first remote controller 7. In this case, the ordinarysoftware and hardware are other than the basic function relating to thefirst communicator 15 is shut down in advance to go to step S82. Theordinary function of software and hardware of the personal computer arewell known, any additional explanation being believed to be unnecessary.

If it is detected in step S76 that the predetermined time has passed,the flow advances to step S82. Thus, if a person who has no knowledge ofhandling the personal computer leaves the television set without anyoperation further to the power-on operation, the flow automaticallyreaches to step 82. In other words, there is no problem in operating thetelevision set caused by adding the personal computer function to thetelevision set.

The steps lead by step S82 are for a process of protecting the personalcomputer from virus otherwise suffered from the constant connection. Theantivirus process lead by step S82 is stricter than in the communicationsecurity of the ordinary level in step 78. In other words, since thepersonal computer function utilized in the television set according tothis invention is substantially limited to the e-mail function with apredetermined person or home, the other type of access to the personalcomputer, which would be allowed in the security level of step S78, isstrictly shut out.

The antivirus process begins with step S82 to set the personal computerto shut out any access to the computer other than e-mails Thus, anattack to the computer other than e-mail is blocked.

Next in step S84, it is checked whether or not a setting is done toautomatically give on the first display 8 a notice of arrival ofordinary e-mail other than the automatic e-mail for information exchangebetween the first television set 2 and the second television set 4. Ifthere is no setting detected in step S84, the flow advances to step S86to check whether or not a predetermined time has passed since thesetting in step S82. The flow returns to step S84 if the predeterminedtime has not passed in step S86. Thus, the flow waits for the setting isdetected in step S84 for the predetermined time. And, if it is detectedin step S86 that the predetermined time has passed, the flow advances tostep S88.

Thus, if a person who has no knowledge of handling the personal computerleaves the television set without any operation further to the power-onoperation, the flow automatically reaches to step 88. In other words,there is no problem in operating the television set caused by adding theordinary e-mail function to the television set.

In step S88, the personal computer is set to shut out e-mail from anaddress other than the registered ones. For example, the computer is setto only accept e-mail from the second television set 4. Thus, an attackto the computer through e-mail from a stranger is shut out. Further,step S88 may be modified to shut out e-mail unless a predetermined formof information is attached even if the e-mail is from the registeredaddress.

On the other hand, if it is detected in step S84 that the ordinarye-mail notice setting is done, the flow advances to step S90, in whichnotice preparation process is carried out for preparing to automaticallygive on the first display 8 a notice every time when an ordinary e-mailarrives. Since step S90 skips step S88, a risk of an attack to thecomputer through an e-mail from a stranger is left.

If step S88 or step 90 has done, the personal computer start-up processis terminated.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the detail of display process in step 6of FIG. 4. If the display process starts, the accumulated and the latestinformation relating to the second home 3 is confirmed in step S92 onthe basis of the first storage information. The information of thesecond home 3 confirmed in step S92 is utilized in carrying out thefollowing steps.

Next in step S94, it is checked whether or not the other informationdisplay mode is set for the first television set 2 to monitor the secondhome 3. If it is detected in step S94 that the other information displaymode is set, the flow advances to step S96 to check whether thecontinuous display mode is set. If it is detected in step S96 that thecontinuous display mode is set, the flow advances to step S98 to carryout the continuous display process, the flow then going to step S100. Onthe other hand, non-detection in step S96 of the continuous display modesetting means that the mode is the eventual display mode. So, the flowgoes to step S102 to carry out the eventual display process, the flowthen going to step S100.

In the eventual display process in step S102, a preparation toautomatically start the display only when one of the first televisionset 2 or the second television set 4 is operated, and in turn, toautomatically terminate the display when a predetermined time, e.g., 10seconds, elapsed. The eventual display process in step S102 alsoincludes the blink or enlargement of the character or generation of beepin response to the operation of the second television set 4,

In step S100, it is checked whether or not the second television set 4(the other television set) is in on-state on the basis of the firststorage information 23. If it is confirmed in step S100 that the othertelevision set is in on-state, the flow goes to step S104 to read outthe latest information of channel of the second television set 4 on thebasis of the first storage information 23. And then, in step 106 it ischecked whether or not the own television set and the other televisionset are in the different broadcast program areas from each other. If theareas differ, the flow goes to step S108 to convert the channel number,the flow the going to step S110. The channel number conversion carriedout in step S108 corresponds to the conversion of channel “3” on thesecond display 12 at channel number 61 in FIG. 3 (own channel number)into channel “12” on the first display 8 at channel number 53 in FIG. 2(the other channel number), for example. On the other hand, if it is notdetermined in step S106 that the areas differ, the flow directly goes tostep S110.

In step S110, the other channel display process is carried out fordisplaying on the first display 8 the information of channel selected bythe second home 3. And then, the flow goes to step S112. The otherchannel display process will be discussed in more detail with someadditional functions.

In step S100, on the other hand, if the other television set is inoff-state, the flow goes directly to step S112 since there is no need ofthe display relating to the other television set. Alternatively, stepS100 with the other television set in off-state may be followed by astep of displaying a notice that the other television set is inoff-state in place of directly going to step S112.

In step S112, it is checked whether or not any monitoring informationfor the second home 3 is in the first storage information 23. And, ifany, the flow advances to step 114 to carry out the monitoringinformation display process, the flow then going to step S116. On theother hand, if there is no monitoring information in the first storageinformation 23, the flow directly goes to step S116. The monitoringinformation display process in step S114 is to make a warning inresponse to a predetermined condition, the detail of which will beexplained later.

In step S116, it is checked whether or not any photograph to bedisplayed is in the first storage information 23. And, if any, the flowadvances to step 118 to carry out the photograph information displayprocess, the flow then going to step S120. On the other hand, if thereis no photograph information in the first storage information 23, theflow directly goes to step S120. The detail of the photographinformation display process in step S118 will be explained later.

If it is detected in step S94 that the other information display mode isnot set, the flow directly goes to step S120 since no display norprocess for display is needed.

In addition to the above steps for the display process, it is checked instep S120 whether or not necessary operation is done for making itpossible for the first television set 2 and the second television set 4to communicate with each other. If such operation is detected in stepS120, the flow advances to step S122 for the setting process, and thenthe flow terminates. On the other hand, if such operation is notdetected in step S120, the flow instantly terminates.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the detail of the setting process in stepS122 of FIG. 7. Various date set in this process are stored in the firstmemory 6.

If the setting process starts, it is checked in step S132 whether or notthe operation has been done for setting television set function. And, ifit is detected in step S132 that the operation is for setting televisionset function, the flow advances to step S134 to carry out the televisionfunction setting process, in which desired various settings are done bythe operation of the first remote controller 7 in accordance with aseries of the input instructions on the first display 8. If thetelevision function setting process is completed, the flow advances tostep S136. On the other hand, if it is not detected in step S132 thatthe operation is for setting television set function, the flow directlygoes to step S136.

The steps lead by step S136 are for a process of setting the functionrelating to the automatic e-mail exchange between the owe television setand the other television set. Initially in step S136, it is checkedwhether or not the operation has been done for setting address forsending e-mail. If it is detected that the operation is done for settingaddress for sending e-mail, the flow advances to step S138 to registerone address for sending e-mail. Such an operation for registering theaddress is done by the operation of the first remote controller 7 inaccordance with a series of the registering instructions on the firstdisplay 8. If the registering of one address is completed in step S138,the flow goes to step S140. On the other hand, if the operation is notfor setting address of the other television set in step S136, the flowdirectly goes to step S140.

In step S140, it is checked whether or not the operation has been donefor setting address for receiving e-mail. If it is detected that theoperation is done for setting address for receiving e-mail, the flowadvances to step S142 to register one address for receiving e-mail. Theoperation for registering the address for receiving e-mail is also doneby the operation of the first remote controller 7 in accordance with aseries of the registering instructions on the first display 8. If theregistering of one address is completed in step S142, the flow goes tostep S144. On the other hand, if the operation is not for settingaddress for receiving e-mail, the flow directly goes to step S144.

In step S144, it is checked whether or not the registered address is thesecond one or later. If it is detected that the registered address innot the first one, i.e., the second one or later, the flow advances tostep S146 to check whether or not the simultaneous display setting hasbeen done to display all the received e-mail regardless of the address.If it is detected that the simultaneous display setting has not beendone, the flow goes to step S148, in which the selective prioritydisplay process is to be carried out.

The selective priority display process in step S148 is to be explainedin reference to FIG. 2. According to the selective priority displayprocess, even if more than two addresses for receiving e-mail areregistered, information from only the predetermined first priorityaddress is displayed at the other channel number 53, electric applianceicon 54 and camera icon 55 in the first display 8 of FIG. 2 with nodisplay of information from those of any of the other addresses. Forexample, provided that there are two registered addresses consisting ofan address of the parents of the husband of the first home 1 and that ofthe wife of the first home 1 with the latter predetermined as an addressof the first priority, only the information of the parents of the wifeof the first home 1 is displayed at the other channel number 53,electric appliance icon 54 and camera icon 55 in the first display 8 ofFIG. 2

If it is desired to display information of the parents of the husband,the first remote controller 7 is operated. And, the display at the otherchannel number 53, electric appliance icon 54 and camera icon 55 in thefirst display 8 of FIG. 2 is replaced by the information of the parentsof the husband. Thus, according to the selective priority displayprocess, only the information of the first priority is displayed at theupper-left corner of the first display 8 upon starting-up of the firsttelevision set 2 with the display replaced by the information of thenext priority one by one upon every operation of the first remotecontroller 7 in a cyclic manner.

The above is the contents of display carried out in accordance with theselective priority display process in step S148.

On the other hand, if it is detected in step S146 that the simultaneousdisplay setting has been done, the flow advances to step S150, in whichthe identified display process is carried out. The identified displayprocess in step S150 is to be explained also n reference to FIG. 2.According to the identified display process, information through e-mailsfrom all the registered addresses is simultaneously displayed at theupper-left corner of the first display 8 in FIG. 2 with some measure foridentifying each of addresses form the others implemented. For example,provided that the address of the parents of the husband of the firsthome 1 and that of the wife of the first home 1 are registered, thedisplay is made in two columns with information form the husband parentsaddress at the left column and that form the wife parents address at theright column. Thus, by means of predetermining the layout to be assignedto information from the plurality of addresses, the identification ofthe information is possible.

In the layout above, it is possible for the purpose of saving the areaof the first display 8 to shift the column of display for theinformation from parents of wife to the left if there is no informationfrom the parents of husband. To identify thus shifted column from thecolumn for parents of husband, an icon representing the parents of wifeis put at the top of the shifted column, an icon representing theparents of husband being of course put at the top of the column if thereis information thereof. Alternatively, the identification is possible bymeans of making the color of display for each column different from thatfor the others.

The above is the contents of display carried out in accordance with theidentified display process in step S150.

The selection whether or not to set the simultaneous display is possiblein advance by the first remote controller 7 according to the guide onthe first display 8. Step 146 decides whether to go to step 148 or tostep 150 in accordance with the result of such selection in advance.

After the process in step S148 or step 150, the flow advances to stepS152. It should be noted that the flow directly goes from step S144 tostep S152 if it is detected in step S144 that the registered address isthe first one.

It may not easy for a person, especially an old person living alone, whois not familiar with a television setting in detail to set the addressfor automatically sending e-mail. In other words, there may be a ceasein which the necessary television setting by a person to be monitored isimpossible by itself. For example, unless the operation is made at thesecond television set 4 to set the address of first television set 2 towhich the automatic e-mail is sent, it is impossible for the first home1 to monitor the second home 3 by means of the first television set 2.The steps lead by step S152 are for a process to solve this problem bymeans of, for example, making it possible for the first television set 2to remotely control the second television set 4 to set the address forautomatically sending e-mail.

In step S152, it is checked whether or not the operation for remotelycontrolling the other television set to register the address forautomatically sending e-mail is done. And, if such an operation is made,the flow advances to step S154 to carry out the authentication process.If the authentication by the second television set 4 that the firsttelevision set 2 is true is successful, the flow is allowed to advanceto step S156 for sending e-mail to the second television set 4 with theremote control data attached, the flow then going to step S158.

If it is not detected in step S152 that the operation for remotelycontrolling the other television set is done, the flow directly goes tostep S158. The above is the process for making it possible for the firsttelevision set 2 to remote control the second television set 4 to setthe address for automatically sending e-mail.

The flown is not only for the first controller 5, but also for thesecond controller 9 in common. So, the flow includes a process necessaryfor the own television set to function in response to a remote controlby the other television set. The steps lead by step S158 are for such aprocess.

Thus the following explanation of FIG. 8 will be made that the flow isof the second controller 9 of the second television set 4 in response tothe remote control by the first television set 2. In step S158, it ischecked whether or not an e-mail with the remote control data attachedis received form the other television set. If such an e-mail isreceived, the flow advances to step S160 in which an authentication ismade with the first television set 4 to confirm that the sender of thee-mail is truly the first television set 2. If the authentication instep S160 is successful, the flow advances to step S162 to carry out thefunction as directed by the remote control data attached to the e-mail,the flow then going to step S164. Thus, the setting of address ofsending e-mail from the second television set 4, which has been preparedand sent by the first television set 2, is registering in the secondmemory 10.

On the other hand, if it is not detected in step S158 that any e-mailwith the remote control data attached is received form the othertelevision set, the flow directly goes to step S164.

Thus, in the operation for remote control to register the address forautomatically sending e-mail, steps S152 to S156 function on the side ofremotely controlling the other side while steps S158 to S162 function onthe side of being controlled by the other side. And, since the addresssetting is an important issue affecting the privacy, authenticationsteps S154 and S160 are absolutely necessary to prevent a fraud remotecontrol by impersonation.

Though not shown in FIG. 8, if the authentication fails in step S154,the flow goes to a step of displaying thereof and then to step 158.Similarly, if the authentication fails in step S160, the flow goes to astep of displaying thereof and then to step 164. Thus, no remote controldata is sent, nor any address setting is carried out on the basis ofreceived remote control data.

In step S164, it is checked whether or not a setting terminationoperation is made to terminate the flow upon detection of such anoperation. On the other hand, if no such an operation is detected instep S164, the flow returns to step S132 and the loop of steps S132 toS164 is repeated unless the setting termination operation is detected instep S164. Thus, the flow can respond to any operation done during therepletion of the loop.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing the detail of the automatic e-mailsending process carried out in any of steps S4, S10, S14, S22 and S30 inFIG. 4. If the automatic e-mail sending process setting process starts,it is checked in step S172 whether or not an address for automaticallysending an e-mail is registered.

If it is detected that an address to which an e-mail is sent isregistered, the flow advances to step S174 to automatically create ane-mail, an address being then automatically input in step S176 inaccordance with the registration thereof. If there are addresses morethan two are registered, all of the addresses are input. And, the flowadvances to steps lead by step S178 in which various attachments areconfirmed and automatically attached to the created and addressede-mail.

In step S178, it is checked whether or not the information to beattached relates to the power-on or power-off of the television set. Andthe flow goes to step S180 if the information is of the power-on orpower-off. In step S180, the code representing the power-on or power-offwith the date and time at which such an operation was made are attachedto the e-mail. Further, in the case of the power-on, the channel numberat the time of power-on is further attached to the e-mail. The flow goesto step 182 after completion of the attachment of the information instep S180. On the other hand, the flow directly goes to step S182 if theinformation does not relates to the power-on or power-off.

In step S182, it is checked whether or not the information to beattached relates to the change in the channel of the television set. Andthe flow goes to step S184 if the information is of the change in thechannel. In step S184, the new channel number with the date and time atwhich such change was made are automatically attached to the e-mail. Theflow goes to step 186 after completion of the attachment of theinformation in step S184. On the other hand, the flow directly goes tostep S186 if the information does not relates to the change in channel.

In step S186, it is checked whether or not the information to beattached relates to the change in the sound volume of the televisionset. And the flow goes to step S188 if the information is of the changein the sound volume. In step S188, the numerical information for the newsound volume with the date and time at which such change was made areattached to the e-mail. The flow goes to step 190 after completion ofthe attachment of the information in step S188. On the other hand, theflow directly goes to step S190 if the information does not relates tothe change in sound volume.

In step S190, it is checked whether or not the information to beattached relates to the viewing of the recorded or downloaded broadcastprogram or the received photograph. The recorded or downloaded broadcastprograms are stored in the first memory 6 of large capacity inside thetelevision set. Alternatively, the recorded or downloaded broadcastprograms are stored in an outside storage such as video tape recorder ordigital disc recorder.

And the flow goes to step S192 if the information relates to the viewingof the recorded or downloaded broadcast program or the receivedphotograph. In step S192, the code representing the fact of viewing andthe date and time at which the viewing of the broadcast program wasstarted and ended are automatically attached to the e-mail. If an IDcode identifying the broadcast program is included in the viewed data asin the case of digital broadcast program data or downloaded broadcastprogram data, such an ID is also attached to the e-mail in step S192.

If the viewed data is the received photograph, an ID of each photographviewed or ID of a group of photographs in the case of being sent in alump with the date and time at which each photograph is viewed areautomatically attached to the e-mail in step S192. The flow goes to step194 after completion of the attachment of the information in step S192.How to use the information attached in step S192 will be explainedlater. On the other hand, the flow directly goes to step S194 if theinformation does not relates to the viewing of the recorded ordownloaded broadcast program or the received photograph.

In step S194, it is checked whether or not the information to beattached relates to the change in registration of the regularly viewedbroadcast program. And the flow goes to step S196 if the information isof the change in such a registration. In step S196, the information ofchange in registration with the date and time at which such registrationchange was made are automatically attached to the e-mail. Theinformation of change in registration includes the code representing thefact of the addition or deletion and the ID of the added or deletedbroadcast program to or from the registration. The flow goes to step 198after completion of the attachment of the information in step S196. Onthe other hand, the flow directly goes to step S198 if the informationdoes not relates to the change in registration of the regularly viewedbroadcast program.

In step S198, it is checked whether or not the information to beattached relates to the change in the condition of the home electricappliance. And the flow goes to step S200 if the information is of thechange in the condition of the home electric appliance. In step S200,the ID of the home electric appliance and its condition with the dateand time at which such change occurred are attached to the e-mail. Theflow goes to step 202 after completion of the attachment of theinformation in step S200. On the other hand, the flow directly goes tostep S202 if the information does not relates to the change in thecondition of the home electric appliance.

In step S202, the e-mail created and addressed in the above steps withthe information attached in the above steps is automatic sent to theother television set. And then the flow terminates. On the other hand,the flow instantly terminates without any action if it is not detectedin step S172 that any address for automatically sending an e-mail isregistered.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing the detail of the automatic informationstorage process in step S26 of FIG. 4 and step S52 of FIG. 5. If theautomatic information storage process starts, the received e-mail isautomatically read in step S212, and the attachment to the read e-mailis automatically examined in step S213.

Next, it is checked in step S214 whether or not the first storageinformation 23 includes too old information to take into considerationin statistics or analysis. If such old information is in the firststorage information 23, the old information is completely deleted fromthe first storage information 23 in step S215, the flow the going tostep S216. On the other hand, there is no such old information in thefirst storage information 23, the flow directly goes from step 214 tostep S216. The limit for judging whether the information is too old ornot in step S214 can be individually set depending on the nature of theinformation. For example, the power-on or power-off and the channelchanging which are daily repeated are accumulated for a relatively longterm for analyzing the regular pattern of life. On the other hand, theviewing of photograph which temporarily occurs is not meaningful toaccumulate for a long term, but the sent photograph is to be monitoredevery time not to leave unviewed.

The deletion of old data in step S215 is mainly for ordering thenecessary data and for saving the capacity of the memory 6. Further, thedeletion of old data is advantageous in case that a time bomb type virusattached to an e-mail is invading into the first storage information 23since such a virus may hopefully be deleted before its expression.

In the steps lead by step 216, the S140, the attachment informationexamined in step S213 is stored in memory 6 as the first storageinformation 23.

In step S216, it is checked whether or not the attached informationrelates to the power-on or power-off of the other television set. Andthe flow goes to step S218 if the information is of the power-on orpower-off. In step S218, the code representing the power-on or power-offwith the date and time at which such an operation was made are added toand accumulated in the first storage information 23. Further, in thecase of the power-on, the channel number at the time of power-on isfurther added to the first storage information 23. The flow goes to step220 after completion of the addition and accumulation of the informationin step S218. On the other hand, the flow directly goes to step S220 ifthe information does not relate to the power-on or power-off of theother television set.

In step S220, it is checked whether or not the attached informationrelates to the change in channel or sound volume at the other televisionset. And the flow goes to step S222 if the information is of the channelchange or sound volume. In step S222, the new channel number ornumerical information for the new sound volume with the date and time atwhich such a change operation was made are added to and accumulated inthe first storage information 23. The flow goes to step 224 aftercompletion of the addition and accumulation of the information in stepS222. On the other hand, the flow directly goes from step S220 to stepS224 if the information does not relate to the change in channel or thesound volume at the other television set.

In step S224, it is checked whether or not the attached informationrelates to the change in registration of the regularly viewed broadcastprogram. And the flow goes to step S226 if the information is of thechange in such a registration. In step S226, the information of changein registration with the date and time at which such registration changewas made are automatically added to and accumulated in the first storageinformation 23. The flow goes to step 228 after completion of theaddition and accumulation of the information in step S226. On the otherhand, the flow directly goes from step S224 to step S228 if theinformation does not relate to the change in registration of theregularly viewed broadcast program.

In step S228, it is checked whether or not the attached informationrelates to the viewing of the recorded or downloaded broadcast programby the other television set. And the flow goes to step S230 if theinformation relates to the viewing of the recorded or downloadedbroadcast program. In step S230, the code representing the fact ofviewing and the date and time at which the viewing of the broadcastprogram was started and ended are automatically added to and accumulatedin the first storage information 23. The flow goes to step 232 aftercompletion of addition and accumulation of the information in step S230.On the other hand, the flow directly goes from step S228 to step S232 ifthe information does not relate to the viewing of the recorded ordownloaded broadcast program.

In step S232, it is checked whether or not the attached informationrelates to the viewing of the photograph at the other television set,the photograph having been sent by the own television set. And the flowgoes to step S234 if the information relates to the viewing of thephotograph. In step S234, an ID of each photograph viewed or ID of agroup of photographs in the case of being sent in a lump with the dateand time at which each photograph is viewed are automatically added toand accumulated in the first storage information 23. The flow goes tostep 236 after completion of the addition and accumulation of theinformation in step S234. On the other hand, the flow directly goes tofrom step S232 step S236 if the information does not relate to theviewing of the photograph at the other television set.

In step S236, it is checked whether or not the attached informationrelates to the change in the condition of the home electric appliance inthe other home. And the flow goes to step S238 if the information is ofthe change in the condition of the home electric appliance. In stepS238, the ID of the home electric appliance with the date and time atwhich such change occurred at the other home are automatically added toand accumulated in the first storage information 23. The flow terminatesthe automatic information storage process after completion of theaddition and accumulation of the information in step S238. On the otherhand, instantly terminates the automatic information storage process ifthe information does not relate to the change in the condition of thehome electric appliance at the other home.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing the detail of the other channel displayprocess in step S110 of FIG. 7. If the other channel display processstarts, it is checked in step S242 on the basis of the first storageinformation 23 whether or not the broadcast program data stored in thesecond memory 10 is viewed on the second television set 4.

The typical stored broadcast program data is the video recorded programstored in the second memory 10. In other words, the typical viewing ofthe recorded broadcast program is a playback of the video recordedprogram. The first storage information 23 includes not only such aviewing of the data stored in the second memory 10, but also a playbackof the broadcast program recorded by a video recorder outside the secondtelevision set 4. Therefore, such a playback of the program recorded bythe outside video recorder is also considered in step S242 as the caseof the recorded broadcast program data is viewed

Further, the second television set 4 can download a broadcast programfrom a server through the internet. Thus, the viewing of a broadcastprogram downloaded and stored in the second memory 10 is also consideredin step S242 as the case of the recorded broadcast program data isviewed.

If it is determined in step S242 that the other television set isviewing the recorded broadcast program data, the flow advances to stepS244 to replace the other channel display on the first display 8 by therecorded data viewing display. For example, the other channel number 53in FIG. 2 is replaced by a character display such as “VIDEO” if videorecorded broadcast program is viewed. Alternatively, the other channelnumber 53 in FIG. 2 is replaced by a character display showing the titleof the program if digital recorded or downloaded program data includingdigital ID information capable of identifying the program is viewed.

The flow advances to step S246 after the display replacement in step 244is done. On the other hand, the flow directly goes to step S246 if it isnot determined in step 242 that the other television set is viewing therecorded broadcast program data,

Step S246 to step S260 carry out the switching between the continuousdisplay mode setting and the eventual display mode setting. It should benoted here that, even in the continuous display mode, the channeldisplay for example is highlighted for a predetermined time, e.g., 10seconds, when the channel is changed for drawing attention to occurrenceof the change as in the eventual display mode.

The explanation begins with the case that the eventual display mode isset.

In step S246, it is checked whether or not a predetermined time haspassed after the start-up of the own television set. And, if thepredetermined time has passed, the flow advances to step S248 to checkwhether or not a predetermined time has passed after a sending ofe-mail. If it is determined in step S248 that the predetermined time haspassed, the flow advances to step S250. The fact that the flow reachesstep 250 means that the predetermined time has passed after anyoperation of the own television set.

In step S140, it is checked whether or not a predetermined time haspassed after a receipt of e-mail. And, if the predetermined time haspassed, the flow advances to step S252. The fact that the flow reachesstep 252 means that the predetermined time has passed from any operationof the other television set. Thus, step S252 is reached only when thepredetermined time has passed after any of operation of both the owntelevision set and the other television set. In step S252, it is checkedwhether or not the continuous display mode is set. The flow goes to stepS254 to make no display for the other television set since the eventualdisplay mode is set in this case as has been provided.

On the other hand, if the predetermined time has not passed yet in oneof steps S246, S248 and S250 in step S140, the flow advances to stepS256 to check whether or not it is checked whether or not the continuousdisplay mode is set. The flow goes to step S258 to make normal displayfor the other television set since the eventual display mode is set inthis case as has been provided.

The above is the function in the other channel display process with theeventual display mode is set. In other words, the display for the otherchannel is made only for a predetermine time after the operation of oneof the own television set and the other television set, the displaydiscontinuing when the predetermined time has passed after the lastoperation.

In the case that the continuous display mode is set, the followingfunction results. If the predetermined time has passed in all of stepsS246, S248 and S250, the flow reaches step S252. And the flow goes tostep S258 to make normal display for the other television set since thecontinuous display mode is set in this case.

On the other hand, if the predetermined time has not passed yet in oneof steps S246, S248 and S250, the flow goes to step S256. And the flowgoes to step S260 to make highlight display for the other television setsince the continuous display mode is set in this case.

The above is the function in the other channel display process with thecontinuous display mode is set. In other words, the highlight displayfor the other channel is made for a predetermine time after theoperation of one of the own television set and the other television set,the display itself continuing with switched into normal display when thepredetermined time has passed after the last operation.

After the completion of function in one of steps S246, S248 and S250,the flow goes to step S262. In step S262, it is checked whether or notthe broadcast program viewed on the own television set is identical withthat on the other television set. If not, the flow goes to step S264 tocheck whether or not an identical broadcast program with that viewed onthe other television set is on-air in the area of the own televisionset. If such a broadcast program is on-air and available, the flowadvances to step S266 to carry out the easy tuning process, in which thechannel of the own television set can be switched to the channel for thesame broadcast program as that viewed on the other television set with asingle touch of a predetermined key of the first remote controller 7without any channel selecting operation. This is possible on the channelinformation from the other television set in the first storageinformation 23. The meaning of the easy tuning process has beendiscussed in relation to FIGS. 2 and 3, which will not be repeated here.If the process in step S266 is completed, the flow of the other channeldisplay process terminates. On the other hand, if it is not detected instep S264 that an identical broadcast program with that viewed on theother television set is on-air in the area of the own television set,the flow instantly terminates since the easy tuning process in step 264is meaningless.

According to the easy tuning process in step S266, if the predeterminedkey of the first remote controller 7, which has been once touched tochange the channel into the broadcast program viewed on the othertelevision set, is touched again, the channel returns to the broadcastprogram which was formerly viewed on the own televisions set. This ispossible on the channel information of the own television set in thefirst storage information 23 which includes information sent to theother television set such as channel number of the own television set.By means of this function in the easy tuning process, it is easilypossible to temporally confirm the contents of the broadcast programviewed on the other television set and then to return to the broadcastprogram which was originally viewed on the own television set.

In the case that the channel display on the first display 8 is replacedby the recorded data viewing display in step 244, it is checked in stepS262 whether or not the recorded broadcast program viewed on the owntelevision set is identical with that on the other television set. Inplace of channel comparison, the recorded broadcast program comparisonis done on the program ID. In other words, the program ID received fromthe second television set 4 and stored in the first storage information23 is compared with the program ID of the program viewed on the firsttelevision set 2.

If the broadcast program viewed on the other television set does notcoincide with that viewed on the own television set, it is checked instep 264 whether or not it is possible to download the same broadcastprogram through the internet by way of the first communicator 15. Thebroadcast program can be identified by the ID in the first storageinformation 23. If the download is possible, the flow advances to stepS266 to carry out the easy tuning process, in which the download startson the basis of the ID in the first storage information 23 if thepredetermined key of the first remote controller 7 is operated. Thus,the download is easily done without any search for the broadcast programor any further operation for the download. On the other hand, if it isnot detected in step S264 that an identical broadcast program with thatviewed on the other television set can be downloaded, the flow instantlyterminates since the easy tuning process in step 264 is meaningless.

On the other hand, if it is decided that the broadcast program viewed onthe own television set is identical with that on the other televisionset, the flow advances to step S268, in which the own channel ishighlighted to notice that the own home and the other home share thesame experience. The meaning of the easy tuning process in this case hasbeen discussed in relation to FIGS. 2 and 3, which will not be repeatedhere.

In the case that the channel display is replaced by the recorded dataviewing display in step 244, it is checked in step S262 whether or notthe recorded broadcast program viewed on the own television set isidentical with that on the other television set. In place of channelcomparison, the recorded broadcast program comparison is done on theprogram ID. If it is decided that the broadcast program viewed on theown television set is identical with that on the other television set,the flow advances to step S268, in which the own title of the program orthe like is highlighted to notice that the own home and the other homeshare the same experience. The other channel display process in FIG. 11terminates when the highlight function in step S268 is completed.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart showing the detail of the photograph informationdisplay process in step 118 of FIG. 7, in which steps S272 to S276 andS280 relate to the function of sending photographs, while steps S278 andS282 to S286 to the function of receiving photographs

If the photograph information display process starts, it is checked instep S272 whether or not any photograph has been sent. And if any, theflow advances to step S274 to check whether or not any e-mail reportingthat the sent photograph has been viewed is received. The functions insteps S272 and S274 are done on the basis of the first storageinformation 23.

If it is not determined in step S274 that such an e-mail is received,the flow goes to step S276 to make display that the sent photograph hasnot been viewed yet. This corresponds, for example, to the case that aphotograph is sent from the first home 1 to the second home 3, in whichcamera icon 55 in FIG. 2 remains to be displayed until the photograph isviewed on the second television set 4. And then, the flow goes to stepS278.

On the other hand, if it is not determined that any photograph has beensent, or the flow goes to step S280 to make no display at the placewhere camera icon 55 is otherwise to be displayed in FIG. 2, forexample. And, if it is determined in step S274 that the e-mail reportingthat the sent photograph has been viewed is received, the flow goes tostep 280 to cause no display. This means, for example, that camera icon55 in FIG. 2 disappears.

In step 278 it is checked whether or not any photograph is received. Ifany, the flow goes to step 282 to check whether or not an operation toview the received photograph had been done.

If it is not determined that such an operation has been done, the flowgoes to step S284 to make display that the received photograph has notbeen viewed yet, the flow then terminating the photograph informationdisplay process. On the other hand, if it is not determined in step S278that any photograph is received, the flow goes to step S286 to make nodisplay. And, if it is determined in step S282 that the operation toview the received photograph has been done, the flow goes to step S286to cause no display. The flow then terminates the photograph informationdisplay process.

The above steps S278 to S282 can be better understood as the function ofthe second controller 9 of the second home 3 in conjugation with FIG. 3,for example. Namely, camera icon 63 indicating the receipt of photographis displayed on the second display 12 in Fig. which is the result of thefunction of step 278 to S284 by way of S282.

If it is detected in step S282 that the operation to view the receivedphotograph has been done in the second home 3, the flow goes to stepS286, which causes camera icon 63 in FIG. 3 to disappear. If it is notdetected in step S278 that any photograph has been received at thesecond home 3, the flow goes to step S286, in which any icon is notdisplayed from the beginning at the place for camera icon 63.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing the detail of the monitoring informationdisplay process in step S114 of FIG. 7, in which the information formthe second home 3 stored in the first storage information 23 is analyzedto make a warning of some abnormality in the second home 3 on the firsttelevision set 2 if the information form the second home 3 deviates forma predetermined condition. The abnormality here is of such a low levelthat is reported on the first display 8 on which the family of the firsthome 1 enjoys some broadcast program so that the family notices theabnormality of the second home 3 by way of caution.

If the monitoring information display process in FIG. 13 starts, it ischecked in step S292 whether or not any time difference exists betweenthe first home 1 and the second home 3. This is for homesinternationally far from each other or homes far from each other in awide country which desire to monitor or be monitored each other. Forexample, the consideration of the time difference is effective to avoidsuch a case that a nonsense warning for “long time power-off of thetelevision set” as an abnormal condition although it is caused by a meresleeping night time.

If any time difference is detected in step S292 that any, the flowadvances to step S294 to compensate for the time difference, the flowthen going to step S296. On the other hand, the flow directly goes tostep S296 if there is no time difference detected in step S292.

In step S296, the history of the information attached to the receivede-mails is analyzed on the basis of the first storage information 23 tomake various judges in the steps lead by step S298. In step 298, it ischecked whether or not a predetermined time period, e.g., 6 hoursexcluding the sleeping time zone, has passed with the other televisionset not operated at all since the last operation. For example, such acase falls under the category that the other television set is left inpower-off state for the predetermined time period or left in power-onstate without any change in channel or sound volume for thepredetermined time period.

If it is not determined that the predetermined time period has notpassed yet, the flow goes to step S300 to check whether or not the othertelevision set is left in power-on state with a channel selected underwhich no broadcast program is on-air anymore because of too deep night.If it is not the case, the flow advances from step S300 to step S302.

In step 302, it is checked whether or not the registered regularbroadcast program is viewed on time on the other television set. If not,the flow goes form step S302 to step S304 to check whether or not theregistration of the broadcast program ha been cancelled by an operation.If the cancellation has been done, the flow goes from step S304 to stepS306. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S302 that theregistered regular broadcast program is viewed on time, the flowdirectly goes to step S306.

In step S306, it is checked whether or not the sound volume is abnormal.Either of a too loud sound volume or a too small sound volume isregarded as the abnormal sound volume. The range of normal sound volumeis not only predetermined, but also may be determined and modified inaccordance with an automatic learning function on the basis of the firststorage information 23. If it is not determined in step S306 that thesound volume is abnormal, the flow goes to step S308. The monitoringinformation display process relating to the television set operation isnot limited to the judges above, but other suitable judges may befurther added thereto.

In step S308, it is checked whether or not the second home electricappliance 28 in the second home 3 is in an abnormal use. A use deviatingform daily regular pattern of use is regarded as the abnormal use. Forexample, the time of power-on or power-off of the second home electricappliance 28 is judged in the light of analysis of the first storageinformation 23. Alternatively, the temperature setting or usage historyin the second home electric appliance 28 in the second home 3 may bejudged. The standard of abnormality is not only predetermined, but alsomay be determined and modified in accordance with an automatic learningfunction on the basis of the first storage information 23. If there isno abnormality detected in step S308, the monitoring information displayprocess is terminated.

On the other hand, if it is judged in one of steps S298, S300, S304,S306 and S308 that any abnormality occurs, the flow goes to step S309 tomake a warning on the first display 8 with corresponding voice dependingon the cause of abnormality.

Further in step S310, the continuous display mode is forced with thewarning displayed in distinguishable color from that in the normaldisplay regardless of whether the continuous display mode or theeventual display mode is set. Thus, in combination with the function instep 309, step 310 effectively notices the abnormality.

Next, in step S310, the automatic e-mail sending process basicallysimilar to that in FIG. 9 with only the attachment differs. In otherwords, in the automatic e-mail sending process in step S311, a newe-mail addressed to the second television set 4 is automatically createdwith the contents of the displayed information of abnormality in stepsS309 and S310 attached, the e-mail with the attachment being thenautomatically sent to the second television set 4.

The reason why the contents of the monitoring information displayed onthe first television set 2 is also sent to the second television set 4is as follows. Namely, the same monitoring information is displayed onthe second television set 4 by means of step S311, which makes itpossible for the family in the second home 2 to share the informationdisplayed at the first home 1. In such a case that the second home 3 isin so abnormal condition that the second television set 4 can hardlyviewed, the above display on the second television set 4 is of coursemeaningless. However, if the second home 3 is not in an abnormalcondition as a matter of fact, the family in the second home 3 caninform the first home 1 of no problem in the second home 3 in responseto the display on the second television set 4 in advance to a contactfrom the first home 1.

It depends on the circumstances whether the first home 1 or the secondhome 3 firstly makes contact with the other in response to the samedisplay on both sides. In any way, one home that notices the displayfirst may contact the other home first. Thus, the monitoring informationdisplay process in FIG. 13 is not a one-way monitoring system, but is anequal two-way system for both homes to share the same information. Inother words, the second home 3 can monitor in real time the manner inwhich the own condition is monitored by the first home 1. Aftercompletion of step S311, the monitoring information display processterminates.

The flow of FIG. 13 goes to step S309 at the instant of detection ofabnormality by anyone of steps S298 to S308. This means that the flowskips the check by downstream steps if an upstream step detects anabnormality. Therefore, the order of the steps for checking abnormalityis so designed that a higher priority step is located at the upstream ofthe flow with a lower priority step located at the downstream.

Alternatively, such a modification is possible that the flow goesthrough all the abnormality checking steps with each checking resultsaved to determine a final decision on the saved results or to displayall the saved results after all the checks have been completed.

FIG. 14 is a flow chart for the process of automatically changing theregistration of the regularly viewed broadcast program and automaticallysending an e-mail with the information of such a change attached. Theinformation attached to the e-mail sent in accordance with this flow issubstantially identical with the information of registration of theregularly viewed broadcast program attached to the e-mail in step S196in FIG. 9. It should be noted, however, that the information attached tothe e-mail in the flow in FIG. 9 relates to the registration of theregularly viewed broadcast program manually changed in step S8 in FIG.4, while the information attached to the e-mail in the flow in FIG. 14relates to the registration of the regularly viewed broadcast programautomatically changed.

The flow of FIG. 14 starts in response to one of the power-on, thechange in channel and the beginning of a broadcast program following theend of a preceding broadcast program.

If the flow of FIG. 14 starts, it is checked in step S312 whether or nota registered broadcast program is being viewed. If not, the flowadvances to step S313 to check the whether or not the currently viewedbroad cast program is serial and has been viewed more than predeterminedtimes, e.g., two times. And, if it is determined in step S313 that theserial program has been viewed more than predetermined times, thebroadcast program is automatically registered as the regularly viewedbroadcast program in step S314, the flow then going to step S316. On theother hand, if it is not determined in step S313 that the currentlyprogram is serial and has been viewed more than predetermined times, theflow directly goes to step S316 without any registration.

In step S316, if it is checked whether or not the registered regularbroadcast program is on time. If it is determined that the registeredregular broadcast program is on time, the flow advances to step S317 tonotice on the first display 8 that the registered regular serialbroadcast program is on time since the broadcast program is not viewedat that time.

Next, in step S318, it is checked whether or not a response input to thenotice above is made through the first remote controller 7 to expressthat the notice is no more necessary. If it is determined in step S318that the response is input, the flow advances to step 319 toautomatically delete the broadcast program form the registration of theregularly viewed broadcast program since the response input means thatthere is no intention to view the noticed serial broadcast program nomore. The flow then goes to step S320. On the other hand, if it is notdetermined in step S318 that the response is input, the flow directlygoes to step 320.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 312 that the registeredbroadcast program is being viewed, or it is not determined in step S316that the registered regular broadcast program is on time, the flowdirectly goes to step 320.

In step S320, it is checked whether or not the viewed broadcast programis the final episode of a serial and no next episode. If it isdetermined in step S320 that the viewed broadcast program is the finalepisode of a serial, the flow advances to step 320 to automaticallydelete the broadcast program form the registration of the regularlyviewed broadcast program. The flow then goes to step S322. On the otherhand, if it is not determined in step S320 that the viewed broadcastprogram is not the final episode of a serial, the flow directly goes tostep S322.

In step S322, it is checked whether or not any change in registration ofthe regularly viewed broadcast program is caused by any of steps S314,S319 and 321. If any, the flow advances to step S323 to automaticallycreate an e-mail, the registered address being automatically added tothe e-mail in step 324. If a plurality of addresses are registered, allthe addresses are added in step S324.

Further, the information change in the registration, which includes IDof the broadcast program, the code indicating what change is made suchas addition or deletion, and the date and time, is attached to thee-mail in step S326. Thus prepared e-mail is automatically sent in stepS328 to terminate the process of automatically changing the registrationof the regularly viewed broadcast program and automatically sending ane-mail with the information of such a change attached. On the otherhand, if it is not determined that any change in registration of theregularly viewed broadcast program is caused by any of steps S314, S319and 321, the process is instantly terminated.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart showing the detail of the automatic photographe-mail sending process in step S18 of FIG. 4. If the flow starts, it ischecked in step S332 whether or not a photograph with sending mark isincluded in the photographs taken into the first controller 5. If any,the flow advances to step S334 to check whether or not a photograph withautomatic sending mark is included.

If it is determined in step S334 that at least one photograph withautomatic sending mark is included in the photographs taken into thefirst controller 5, the flow advances to step S336 to automaticallycreate an e-mail, the registered address being automatically added tothe e-mail in step S338. If a plurality of addresses are registered, allthe addresses are added in step S338.

Further, all the photographs with the automatic sending mark areattached to the e-mail in step S340. Thus prepared e-mail isautomatically sent in step S342 to advance to step S344. On the otherhand, if it is not determined in step S334 that any photograph withautomatic sending mark is included in the photographs taken into thefirst controller 5, the flow directly goes to step S344. The above stepsthus relate to the automatic photograph sending.

On the other hand, the steps lead by steps lead by step 344 relate tothe manual photograph sending. In step S344, such a display is initiatedon the first display 8 that the manual photograph sending operation isready to accept, the flow then goes to step S346 to check whether or notan operation for entry for the manual photograph sending is done throughthe first remote controller 7 in response to the display. If not, theflow goes to step S348 to check whether or not a predetermined time haspassed after the display in step S344. And, if the predetermined timehas not passed yet, the flow returns to step S346. The steps S346 andS348 are to be repeated until the photograph sending operation isdetected in step S346 or the predetermined time has passed in step S348.If the photograph sending entry operation is detected in step S346, theflow advances to step S350, in which the photograph display and manualselection process is carried out, the details being to be explainedlater. If the process in step S350 in completed, the flow advances tostep S352, in which the manual photograph sending process. The automaticphotograph e-mail sending process terminates if the process in step S352is completed.

In step S348, if it is determined that the predetermined time has passedwithout the photograph sending operation, the flow goes to step S354 tovanish the display initiated in step S344. The automatic photographe-mail sending process terminates following step S354. This means thatthe automatic photograph e-mail sending process automatically terminatesif nothing is done after the automatic e-mail sending has been carriedout in step S342. On the other hand, if it is not determined in stepS332 that any photograph with sending mark is included in thephotographs taken into the first controller 5, the automatic photographe-mail sending process instantly terminates.

The following description in conjugation with FIG. 16 relates tocountermeasures against relatively serious abnormality in the home to bemonitored. For reference, the monitoring information display explainedin steps S112 and S114 in FIG. 7 and the flow chart in FIG. 13 relatesto the abnormality of a relatively low level on the promise that thetelevision set can be powered-on at each home by itself. On thecontrary, the following description is directed to functions whichenable one home to quickly inform the other home mutually of therelatively serious abnormality even if the television sets on both homesare in power-off state.

FIG. 16 is a flow chart of the function of the first controller 5 or thesecond controller 9 in FIG. 1 for one of the first home 1 and the secondhome 3 to urgently inform the other home of the detected seriousabnormality by means of e-mail. A part of the functions overlaps thefunctions in FIG. 13 for double checking important abnormality. Further,among such overlapping functions, some if FIG. 16 differ from those inFIG. 13 in the standard of detecting abnormality.

The following explanation is made as the function of the secondcontroller 9, in which an abnormality in the second home 3 is reportedto the first home 1, for example.

For the purpose of detecting the serious abnormality, not only thesecond remote control receiver 14, but also the second memory 10 and thesecond tuner 21 are continuously provided with the standby power even ifthe power-off state of the second television set 4. Further, the secondcontroller 9 is continuously provided with the standby power for atleast a portion for making a decision on a sensed abnormality even ifthe second television set in power-off state. The provision of suchstandby power is also true in the first television set 2.

The flow in FIG. 16 starts if an occurrence of one of predeterminedabnormalities is detected.

Steps S362 and S364 relate to abnormality sensed by the second remotecontroller 11 on the basis of an action of a person in the second home3. Conventionally, a person in the second home 3 may make a call bymobile phone to the first home 1 or to an emergency organization such asnine-one-one upon emergency. Alternatively, it may be possible for theperson to push an exclusive emergency hotline button located at apredetermined position in the second home 3 or on a portable device thatthe person carries.

However, in the case of the call by mobile phone, it is not easy for aperson in panic or off his or her track to properly operate the mobilephone for all the speed dial call function or the phonebook callfunction. Further, the person may be too knocked out to speak on thephone of the abnormality even if the connection is successfully made.

In the case of the an exclusive emergency hotline, on the other hand, itmay be easy for a person even in panic or off the track to properly pushthe button since the operation is very simple and the contents andaddressee of information is predetermined. However, this simplicity inoperation means not only the advantage, but also the disadvantage sincethe button is experienced to be simply and frequently pushed in error inthe case that the button is located at a convenient place such as on theportable device, the high frequency of the erroneous push of the buttonlowering the reliability of the hotline like “wolf child”. On thecontrary, if the button is fixedly located at a place where an erroneouspush hardly occurs, a person in panic or off the track may notsuccessfully get to the button to push it. Further, the hotline is of anature that has not been daily used for a long time if the family is sohappy that no serious abnormality occurs. This means that the family isapt to forget about the hotline button or forget the hotline systemitself with passing time, or that the batteries of the hotline deviceleft as it is for a long time are running so low that the hotline systemdoes not work upon emergency. Thus, the home with such a hot line systembears a considerable burden in daily life such as regular exercises andmaintenances of the hotline device to keep its reliability.

Steps S362 and S364 are for solving the above mentioned problems in theconventional emergency responding systems. In step S362, it is checkedwhether a number of predetermined keys on the second remote controller11, such as three keys or more, are pushed at once. In other words, stepS362 assumes a case that a person in the second home 3 is so in panic oroff the truck that he or she can no more properly operate the secondremote controller 11 to inform someone of the emergency occurring in thesecond home 3. But, it is assumed that he or she can grasp the entire ofthe second remote controller 11 or push the entire surface of the remotecontroller 11 with the palm to cause the situation to be detected instep S362, in which the number of predetermined keys are pushed at once.Since such a situation would not be caused in a normal operation of thesecond remote controller 11, step S362 upon detecting the situationjudges that an emergency occurs.

If it is not detected in step S362 that a number of predetermined keyson the second remote controller 11 are pushed at once, the flow advancesto step S364 to check whether or not a predetermined same key isrepeatedly pushed more than a predetermined times in a short period. Inother words, step S364 assumes a case that a person in panic may berepeatedly trying and failing in the same operation on the second remotecontroller 11 or so in panic or off the truck that he or she can onlyoperate the second remote controller 11 randomly. Since such ameaningless repetition of pushing the same key in a short period wouldnot be caused in a normal operation of the second remote controller 11,step S364 upon detecting the repetition judges that an emergency occurs.In step 364, not only one key, but also a group of closely arranged keysare checked to detect whether or not any one or ones in the group isrepeatedly pushed more than a predetermined times in a limited shortperiod. In other words, step S364 assumes a case that a person in panicmay push a key next to the correct key in error and try again to pushthe correct key, such erroneous push and retry being repeated in panic.

As has been readily understood, steps S362 and S364 can detect emergencyby means of abnormal operation on the second remote controller 11 whichis daily used. Thus, a person even in panic or off his or her truck cancause a report of the emergency on the basis of a simple action not tobe taken by a normal person, but is apt to be taken by a person in panicor off the truck. Further, a possibility of erroneous emergency reportis relatively low because the assumed action under detection would notbe taken by a normal person. Of course, steps S362 and S364 do notrequire any regular exercise and maintenance to keep the reliability ofemergency report since the second remote controller 11 is in daily use.As will be explained later, steps S362 and S364 are followed by apredetermined process with the report creation method as well as thecontents and address of the report all predetermined. Thus, if theabnormal operation of the second remote controller 11 is successfullydetected in step S362 or S364, the necessary report is automaticallycarried out.

In steps S362 and S364 of the flow chart in FIG. 16 constitute an ORlogic, in which the abnormality is concluded if the situation assumed instep S362 or that in step S364 is detected. However, such a modificationis possible that the steps S362 and S364 constitute an AND logic, inwhich the abnormality is concluded if the situation assumed in step S362and that in step S364 are both detected. According to the modified flowchart, steps S362 and S364 in combination judge that an emergency occurswhen a number of predetermined keys are pushed at once and apredetermined one key or one or ones in a predetermined group of closelyarranged keys is repeatedly pushed more than a predetermined times in ashort period.

This above modification in AND logic is advantageous to avoid such anerroneous emergency report only by step S362 detecting that a number ofpredetermined keys are pushed at once which may be accidentally causedby a mere dropping of the second remote controller 11 with the keysfacing the floor or a mere stepping on the second remote controllerdropped on the floor. The above modification in AND logic is alsoadvantageous to avoid such an erroneous emergency report only by stepS364 detecting that a predetermined one key is repeatedly pushed morethan a predetermined times in a short period, which may be caused byinputting an address including a series of the same figure or byoperating the space key or the line feeding key which is apt to benormally pushed in repetition.

On the other hand, however, is should be noted that the abovemodification in AND logic may lead to such a disadvantage that necessaryabnormality may not be detected because of the too strict judgmentstandard. So, it is recommended not to give uniform treatment to all thekeys in adopting the OR logic or the AND logic of steps S362 and S364,but to different treatment to individual keys in dependence on the totallayout of the keyboard and the relative arrangement of keys on thesecond remote controller 11.

Or, such an alternative modification is possible that the OR logic isadopted as to steps S362 and S364 as they are in FIG. 16 and the ANDlogics are added to each of steps S362 and S364 with other conditionalsteps for avoiding erroneous report, respectively.

According to the flow chart in FIG. 16, steps S362 and S364 are carriedout by the second controller 9. However, this invention is not limitedto such an embodiment. For example, steps S362 and S364 can be modifiedto be carried out by a control unit in the second remote controller 11to detect and judge the abnormality in operation within the secondremote controller 11 by itself. In this case, the second remotecontroller 11 informs the second television set 4 of the final judgment.Such function in the second remote controller 11 is so carried out thatthe final judgment is done by control unit 72 to create the abnormalremote controller operation signal, which is in turn transmitted frominfrared communicator 73 of the second remote controller 11 to thesecond remote control receiver 14 of the second television set 4. Thedetails of the second remote controller 11 including control unit 72 andinfrared communicator 73 is to be explained later with reference to FIG.18.

If steps S362 and S364 are modified to be carried out by control unit 72in the second remote controller 11, original steps S362 and S364 in FIG.16 are replaced by a step to check whether or not the abnormal remotecontroller operation signal is received from the second remotecontroller 11.

Returning to the explanation of the flow chart in FIG. 16, if theabnormality assumed in step S364 is not detected, the flow advances tostep S366 to check whether or not a local emergency broadcast isreceived by the second television set 4 through airwave or cablebroadcast system. Such a local broadcast is not sent over in the area towhich the first home 1 belongs, the contents as well as the occurrenceitself of such a broadcast being unknown in the first home 1 which isfar from the second home 3.

If the abnormality assumed in step S366 is not detected, the flowadvances to step S368 to check whether or not the second television set4 is left for a long time, e.g., 24 hours, without any operation afterthe latest operation. If the abnormality assumed in step S366 is notdetected, the flow advances to step S368 to check whether or not thesecond television set 4 is left for a long time, e.g., 24 hours, withoutany operation after the latest operation. If the abnormality assumed instep S368 is not detected, the flow goes to step S370 to check whetheror not the other television set is left in power-on state for a longtime, e.g., 30 minuets, with a channel selected under which no broadcastprogram is on-air. If it is not the case, the flow advances from stepS370 to step S372.

In step S372, it is checked whether or not the sound volume is abnormal.Though this step overlaps step 306 in FIG. 13, the similar function isarranged in FIG. 16 step 372 for double checking. If the abnormalityassumed in step S372 is not detected, the flow advances to step S374 tocheck whether or not the second home electric appliance 28 in the secondhome 3 is in an abnormal use. Though this step may completely overlapstep 308 in FIG. 13 for the purpose of double checking, the condition ofjudging the abnormal use for the same electric appliance may differ fromthat in step 308 in FIG. 13 depending on the nature of the electricappliance. Or, another electric appliance different from that in step308 in FIG. 13 may be checked in step S374 in FIG. 16.

If the abnormality assumed in step S374 is not detected, the flowadvances to step S376 to record that the process of urgently informingthe serious abnormality is started by a malfunction since the flow chartin FIG. 16 is designed to start only in response to the occurrence ofone of the abnormalities assumed in steps S362 to S374. In other words,no urgent e-mail is created nor sent in this case, but the flow directlyadvances to step S378 to display the result of the function of the flow,the flow then terminating. In this case the recorded malfunction isdisplayed in step S378, the display remaining even after the terminationof the flow until manually cancelled by means of operating the secondremote controller 11. Thus, a person in the second home 3 can confirmthe fact of malfunction with cancelling the display to order aprofessional investigation into the reason of the malfunction.

On the other hand, if one of the abnormalities assumed in steps S362 toS374 is detected, the flow advances to step S380 to check whether or notthe second television set 4 is in power-on state. If not, the flow goesto step S382 to automatically make the second television set 4 intopower-on state. Further, in step S384 to urgently activate thecommunication function, the flow then going to step S386. Such functionin steps S382 and S384 correspond to the function in steps S42 and S43in FIG. 5. In the case of FIG. 16, however, most part of functions suchas in FIG. 6, which shows the details of step S43, are omitted for thepurpose of quickly starting-up the personal computer function necessaryfor e-mail communication with the security process in steps S82 and S88at least carried out. On the other hand, if the television set 4 is inpower-on state at step S380 the flow directly goes to step S386.

In step S386, an urgent e-mail is automatically created, the registeredaddress of the first television set 2 being automatically added to thee-mail in step 388. Further, in step S388, the address corresponding tonine-one-one is added as the address if the flow comes to step S380 formstep S362 or step S364

Next, in step S390, the contents of abnormality detected in one of stepsS362 to S374 is attached to the e-mail. Thus prepared e-mail isautomatically sent in step S392. According to the process above theurgent e-mail is sent form the second communicator 16 to the firstcommunicator 15 by way of the internet.

As in the case of FIG. 13, the flow of FIG. 16 goes to step S380 at theinstant of detection of abnormality by anyone of steps S362 to S374.This means that the flow skips the check by downstream steps if anupstream step detects an abnormality to cause the sending of the urgente-mail. Therefore, the order of the steps for checking abnormality is sodesigned that a higher priority step is located at the upstream of theflow with a lower priority step located at the downstream.Alternatively, such a modification is possible that the flow goesthrough all the abnormality checking steps with each checking resultsaved, all the saved abnormalities being attached to the e-mail in stepS390 after all the checks in steps S362 to S374 have been completed.

Upon completion of the e-mail sending, the flow goes to step S394 toautomatically make the second camera 31 into power-on state with thefield angle of is zoom lens system automatically set at the widestangle. This make is easy for the first television set 2 to monitor thesecond home 3 with the second camera 31 under the remote control by thefirst television set 2.

Next, the flow advances to step S378 to display the result of thefunction of the flow, the flow then terminating. In this case the sameinformation as attached to the e-mail sent in step S392 is displayed onthe second display 12 of the second television set 4. By means of thisdisplay, a person in the second home 4 can know about the information ofabnormality transmitted to the first home 2. If the abnormality in thesecond home 3 is so serious that anyone in the second home 3 cannot viewthe display, such a display may unfortunately be meaningless. However,if the second home 3 is OK, a person in the second home 3 who views thedisplay on the second television set 4 can instantly contact the firsthome 1 to relieve the family in the first home 1 of their anxiety.

Thus, the first home 1 and the second home 3 share information in realtime as in step S311 in FIG. 13. That is all for the function to urgentinformation exchange by means of e-mail in FIG. 16.

FIG. 17 is a flow chart of the function of the first controller 5 or thesecond controller 9 in FIG. 1 when it receives the urgent e-mail. Forthe consistency in the explanation with that in FIG. 16, the followingexplanation is made as the function of the first controller 5, in whichan urgent e-mail from the second television set 4 is received by thefirst television set 2, for example.

The flow of FIG. 17 starts when an urgent e-mail sent from the secondcommunicator 16 in step S392 is received by the first communicator 15.As has been explained, the first communicator 15 is supplied with thestandby power, which keeps the first communicator 15 in the standbystate to detect the arrival of an e-mail any time.

If the flow starts, it is checked in step S402 whether or not the firsttelevision set is in power-on state. If not, the flow goes to step S404to automatically make the first television set 2 into power-on state,the flow then going to step S406. On the other hand, if the firsttelevision set 2 is in power-on state at step S402, the flow directlygoes to step S406.

In step S406, the sound volume of the first television set 2 isautomatically increased to its maximum for example for effectivelyinforming the family of the first home 1 of the receipt of the urgentinformation. Next, in step S408, the received e-mail is automaticallyread, the attached information being automatically examined in stepS410. Steps lead by step S312 relate to process in response to theautomatically confirmed information attached to the e-mail.

In step S412, it is checked whether or not the attached information isof the abnormal operation of the second remote controller 11 detected insteps S362 and S364. If t it is determined in step S412 that theattached information is of the abnormal remote controller operation, theflow advances to step S414 to make display of the urgency on the firstdisplay 8 with voice message of the same contents accompanying. If anordinary broadcast program is viewed at that time, the broadcast programis interrupted to be replaced by the display and voice message ofurgency. Similar interruption of broadcast program is forced also in thefollowing steps when the urgency is displayed with the voice message.

Since the abnormal remote controller operation has been possibly causedby a highly serious reason, the display with voice message initiated instep S414 is continued and repeated until they are cancelled byoperating the first remote controller 7. The flow itself advances tostep S418 after the display with voice message is initiated. On theother hand, if it is not determined in step S412 that the attachedinformation is of the abnormal remote controller operation, the flowdirectly goes to step S416,

Step S416 is for enabling for the first television set 2 to remotelycontrol the second camera 31 for visually monitoring the abnormality inthe second home 3. In the case of the abnormal operation of the secondremote controller 11, such a possibility is high that the person causingthe abnormal operation is within the field angle of the second camera 31with the second remote controller 11 held since the second camera 31 isdirected to the watchers of the second television set 4. Thus, step S416following steps S414 is meaningful. After step S416, a remote controlsignal attached to e-mail is sent from the first communicator 15 inresponse to an operation at the first remote controller 7.

Next, in step S418, it is checked whether or not the attachedinformation is of the abnormality in the television operation detectedin steps S368 to S372. If t it is determined in step S418 that theattached information is of the abnormality in the television operation,the flow advances to step S420 to make display of the urgency on thefirst display 8 with voice message of the same contents accompanying.The display with voice message initiated in step S420 is continued andrepeated until they are cancelled by operating the first remotecontroller 7. The flow itself advances to step S422 after the completionof the first voice message. On the other hand, if it is not determinedin step S418 that the attached information is of the abnormality in thetelevision operation, the flow directly goes to step S422,

In step S422, it is checked whether or not the attached information isof the abnormality in the second electric appliance 28 detected in stepS374. If t it is determined in step S422 that the attached informationis of abnormality in the second electric appliance 28, the flow advancesto step S424 to make display of the urgency on the first display 8 withvoice message of the same contents accompanying. The display with voicemessage initiated in step S424 is continued and repeated until they arecancelled by operating the first remote controller 7. The flow itselfadvances to step S426 after the completion of the first voice message.On the other hand, if it is not determined in step S418 that theattached information is of abnormality in the second electric appliance28, the flow directly goes to step S426,

In step S426, it is checked whether or not the attached information isof the local emergency broadcast detected in step S366. If t it isdetermined in step S426 that the attached information is of the localemergency broadcast, the flow advances to step S428 to playback thelocal emergency broadcast on the first display 8. The play back of thelocal emergency broadcast initiated in step S428 is continued andrepeated until they are cancelled by operating the first remotecontroller 7. The flow itself terminates after the completion of thefirst playback of the local emergency broadcast. On the other hand, ifit is not determined in step S418 that the attached information is ofthe local emergency broadcast, the flow instantly terminates.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram of a remote controller for the television setaccording to the embodiment of this invention. The remote controller isembodied as the first remote controller 7 or the second remotecontroller 11 in FIG. 1. FIG. 18 is hereinafter explained as the detailsof the first remote controller 7 for example. The second remotecontroller 11, however, has the same structure and functions.

In response to an operation at operating portion 71 of the first remotecontroller 7, control unit 72 has infrared communicator 73 send infraredlight signal to the first remote control receiver 13

Control unit 72 also has display 74 indicate information necessary foroperation including the current status of the first remote controller 7such as power-on or power-off state, menu of operations, selection itemsfor operation and the result of operation. As has been explained, thefirst remote controller 7 includes microphone 75 and speaker 76connected to control unit 72 to serve as a phone receiver. Microphone 75is also useful in picking up a voice message with a photograph to besent being displayed of the first display 8 as will be explained laterin more detail.

Operating portion 71 includes power key 77, ten-key 78 for channelselection or the like. In response to operating menu key 79, the menu ofoperations is indicated on display 74 for selection by one of ten-key 78or up-down or right-left shifting and push-down operation by arrow key80.

The sound volume of the first television set 2 is up-down adjustment bytelevision sound volume key 81 of the tilting board type. Regardless ofthe adjustment by sound volume key 81, the voice from the firsttelevision set is muted during phone call key 82 is pressed for phonecall or voice message input, which is effective to avoid the acousticfeedback. In place of the muted voice from the first television set 2,speaker 76 generates sound, the volume of which is up-down adjustment byphone call sound volume key 83 of the tilting board type. The soundinput volume of microphone 75 is automatically adjusted.

Share key 84 is in use for the easy tuning process in step S266 in FIG.11. In more detail, the own television set can be switched to thechannel for the same broadcast program as that viewed on the othertelevision set with a single touch of share key 84 without any channelselecting operation. Also in the case of the television program datadownloaded from a server station on internet, the operation of share key84 makes it possible to download the same television program data asthat viewed on the other television set without any code setting toidentify the television program to be downloaded.

Share key 84 for making it easy to get to the same television program asthat is viewed on the other television set helps to share the sameexperience at the substantially same time as if a family livingtogether.

As has been explained, if share key 84 which has been once touched tochange the channel into the broadcast program viewed on the othertelevision set, is touched again, the channel returns to the broadcastprogram which was formerly viewed on the own televisions set. By meansof this function of share key 84, it is easily possible to temporallyconfirm the contents of the broadcast program viewed on the othertelevision set and then to return to the broadcast program which wasoriginally viewed on the own television set.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram of digital camera 29 in FIG. 1. As has beenmentioned, it is also possible in the second home 3 to input photographfrom a digital camera similar to digital camera 29 into the secondcontroller 9 although only digital camera 29 for the first home 1 isshown in FIG. 1. So the following explanation with respect to FIG. 19 isalso applicable to the digital camera and the second television set 4 inthe second home 3.

Digital camera 29 controlled by camera controller 101 takes a photographin response to an operation of a release button included in cameraoperating portion 102 in such a manner that an image sensed by imagetaking portion 103 is processed by image processor 104 to be stored inimage storage portion 105. Image storage portion 105 includes storagemedia drive 106 for receiving removable storage media 107, to which theprocessed image is stored. Image storage portion 105 also includesinternal storage 108 for storing the processed image in case thatremovable storage media 107 is full. Internal storage 108 also storesthe processed image if so set. A photograph may be stored in duplicatein both removable storage media 107 and internal storage 108. Further, aphotograph may be transferred from removable storage media 107 tointernal storage 108, or vice versa.

For inputting a photograph into the first controller, removable storagemedia 107 is taken out from storage media drive to insert into a storagemedia slot of the first controller 5. Or, camera controller 101retrieves a photograph from image storage portion 105 to send the samefrom digital IO interface 109 to the first controller 5 throughconnection cable. Further, digital camera 29 includes a wireless localcommunicator (not shown) which sends to the first controller 5 over theradio the photograph retrieved by camera controller 101 form imagestorage portion 106. In either case, the first controller 5 detects thereceipt of the photograph to advance from step S16 to step S18 in FIG.4,

Memory 110 stores a registration of address for automatic sending, whichis shared with the first television set 2. With respect to theregistered address, photographs to be automatically sent from the firsttelevision set 2 are selected by means of display 111 and cameraoperating portion 102.

In selection of photographs, thumbnails 112 for all the photographswhich have not been transmitted to the first television set 2 areindicated on display 111. If there are too many photographs, thumbnails112 are to be scrolled in display 111. In FIG. 19, the first thumbnail,the second thumbnail and the third thumbnail are indicated on display111, for example.

With such indication of thumbnails on display 111, camera operatingportion 102 is operated to select photographs to be sent to the secondhome 3, in which a sending box 113 under mark “S” is put a tick for athumbnail of the photograph to be sent. For example in FIG. 19, “S”sending boxes 113 for the first thumbnail and the third thumbnail areput a tick, respectively.

As to the thumbnail with its “S” box put a tick, address box 114indicating the registered automatic sending address is shown. Forexample, FIG. 19 is a case that two automatic sending addresses areregistered to show “A1” box and “A2” box as address box 114 at the firstthumbnail and the third thumbnail with their sending box 113 put a tick.On the centrally, there is no address pox 114 shown for the secondthumbnail with its sending box 113 not put a tick. This is for avoidingsuch a confused selection that an address box 114 is put a tick in errorfor a thumbnail with its sending box 113 not put a tick. It should benoted that only “A1” box is shown as address box 114 if only oneautomatic sending address is registered. Further, no address box 114 isshown if no automatic sending address is registered. This is also foravoiding a confused selection.

In FIG. 18, “A1” box for the first thumbnail is put a tick for example.Thus, the photograph corresponding to the first thumbnail is not sent tothe second automatic sending address, while the photograph correspondingto the third thumbnail is not sent to any of the registered automaticsending addresses. The photograph with its sending box 113 put a tickwhile its automatic sending box 114 not put a tick will be sent by meansof a manual operation after the photograph is input into the firsttelevision set 2. This will be further explained later.

FIG. 20 is a flow chart showing the function in part carried out bycamera controller 101 of digital camera 29 in FIG. 19 relating tosharing a registration of address for automatic sending between digitalcamera 29 and the first television set 2.

The flow in FIG. 20 starts when digital camera 29 accesses to theinformation of the first television set 2 in some manner. In otherwords, for example, the flow starts when digital camera 29 is connectedto the first controller 5 with a cable or wireless access or whenremovable storage media 107 is inserted into storage media drive 106 ofdigital camera 29.

The following is a supplemental comment on the latter case of access ofdigital camera 29 to the information of the first television set 2.Namely, removable storage media 107 originally for keeping photographinformation also keeps the registration of automatic sending address.And, removable storage media 107 exchanges information with the firsttelevision set 2 or digital camera 29 to share the registration ofautomatic sending address according to a predetermined process when itis inserted into the storage media slot of the first television set 2 orinto storage media drive 106 of digital camera 29, respectively. Thus,removable storage media 107 newly inserted into storage media drive 106of digital camera 29 had been possibly inserted into the storage mediaslot of the first television set 2 to receive and keep the registrationof automatic sending address originated by the first television set 2.In this reason, the insertion of removable storage media 107 intostorage media drive 106 of digital camera 29 is regarded as an access tothe information of the first television set 2 to start the flow in FIG.20.

If the flow starts, it is checked in step S432 whether or not anyinformation is gotten form the first television set 2 by means ofaccessing thereto. If any, the flow advances to step S434 to checkwhether or not the gotten information includes the address forautomatically sending e-mail registered in the first television set.

If it is detected in step S434 that the gotten information includes theaddress for automatically sending e-mail, the flow advances to step S436to check whether or not the information of address for automaticallysending e-mail registered in the first television set 2 and gottentherefrom is new to digital camera 29. This check is made by comparingall the addresses gotten from the first television set 2 with all theaddresses registered in digital camera 29. If the information of addressis new to digital camera 29, the flow advances to step S438 to add thenew address to the registration of addresses for automatic sendinge-mail in digital camera 29, the flow then going to step S440. On theother hand, if it is determined in step S434 that the gotten informationdoes not include the address for automatically sending e-mail registeredin the first television set 2, or it is determined in step S436 that theinformation of address is not new, but has been already registered indigital camera 29, the flow directly goes to step S440.

Thus, if a new address for automatically sending e-mail is registered inthe first television set 2, the new address is automatically registeredalso in digital camera 29 to share it. Thus, an address to which thesecond television set 2 is to send e-mail is indicated on display 111 ofdigital camera in FIG. 19 address box 114. Accordingly, if such anaddress box 114 for a desired thumbnail 112 is put a tick in digitalcamera 29, the photograph corresponding to the thumbnail with itsaddress box 114 put a tick is automatically sent to the registeredaddress when the photograph is input to the first television set 2.

In step S440, all the addresses gotten from the first television set 2are compared with all the addresses registered in digital camera 29 tocheck whether or not such an address exists that has not been registeredin the first television set 2 yet, but is registered in digital camera29 only. If any, the flow advances to step S442 to check whether or notdigital camera 29 is in communication with the first television set 2.

If it is not detected in step S442 that digital camera 29 is incommunication with the first television set 2, the flow goes to stepS448 to duplicated the address, which has not been registered in thefirst television set 2, to store it into removable storage media 107,the flow then terminating. This is because that the flow starts inresponse to the insertion of removable storage media 107 into storagemedia drive 106 if it is not detected in step S442 that digital camera29 is in communication with the first television set 2. Thus, theduplicated and stored address is to be automatically input into thefirst television set 2 if removable storage media 107 is inserted intothe media slot of the television set 2 for the purpose of inputting thephotographs stored in removable storage media 107 into the firsttelevision set 2.

On the other hand, if it is detected in step S442 that digital camera 29is in communication with the first television set 2, which means thatdigital camera 29 is connected to the first television set 2 with cableor wireless connection, the flow goes to step S444 to check whether ornot the first controller 5 is capable of receiving the information formdigital camera 29. If the first controller 5 of capable of receiving theinformation, the flow advances to step S446 to transmit the automatice-mail sending addresses registered in digital camera 29 to the firstcontroller 5, the flow then terminating. On the other hand, if itdetermined tin step S444 that the first controller 5 is incapable ofreceiving the information form digital camera 29, the flow goes to step448.

In step s432, if it is not determined that any information is gottenform the first television set 2, the flow instantly terminates. Also theflow instantly terminates if it is determined in step S440 that such anaddress does not exist that has not been registered in the firsttelevision set 2 yet, but is registered in digital camera 29.

FIG. 21 is a flow chart showing the function in part carried out bycamera controller 101 of digital camera 29 in FIG. 19 relating to theselection of photograph to be input into the first television set 2 bymeans of the combination of display 111 and camera operation portion102.

The flow in FIG. 21 starts when the operation by camera operationportion 102 is initiated for inputting the photograph into the firsttelevision set. When the flow starts, it is checked in step S452 whetheror not such a photograph exists that has not been input into the firsttelevision set 2. If any, the flow advances to step S454 to indicate thethumbnail 112 of the photograph on display 111 as shown in FIG. 19 withsending box 113 also indicated.

Next in step S456, it is checked whether or not a photograph is selectedfor sending to the other television set. In other words, it is checkedin step 456 whether or any sending box 113 in FIG. 19 is put a tick. Ifany, the flow advances to step S458 to check whether or not any addressfor automatically sending e-mail is registered in digital camera 29. Ifany address is registered, the flow advances to step S460 to checkwhether or not a plurality addresses for automatically sending e-mailare registered in digital camera 29.

If it is determined in step S460 that a plurality of addresses forautomatically sending e-mail are registered in digital camera 29, theflow advances to step S462, in which address boxes 114 for allregistered addresses are indicated with respect to each thumbnail 112with its sending box put a tick. Thus, the selection among addresses ispossible for each thumbnail 112. Display 111 in FIG. 19 shows the statusunder these functions. For example, address boxes 114 are indicated forthe two registered addresses “A1” and “A2” with respect to the first andthird thumbnails. 112

If it is not determined in step S460 that a plurality of addresses forautomatically sending e-mail are registered, the flow goes to step S464to indicate a simple automatic sending indication is made since only oneaddress is registered in this case. For example, only one column ofaddress boxes 114 are indicated below mark “A1” on display 111 in FIG.19. If it is not determined in step S458 that any address forautomatically sending e-mail is registered in digital camera 29, theflow goes to step S466 without any indication of address box 114 in stepS462 or S464.

Also, if it is not determined in step S456 that any photograph isselected for sending to the other television set, the flow goes to stepS466 without any indication of address box 114 in step S462 or S464 evenif some address is registered for automatically sending e-mail.

In step S466 reached by way of any of steps S456, S458, S462 and S464,it is checked whether or not a selection closing operation is done. Ifit is not detected in step S466 that such an operation is done, the flowreturns to step S456 to repeat step S456 to S466 until it is determinedin step S466 that a selection closing operation is done. On the otherhand, the flow terminates if it is determined in step S466 that aselection closing operation is done. In response to the termination ofthe flow, the indication for the selection of photograph to be inputinto the first television set 2 is canceled out of display 111.

In step S452, if it is not determined that such a photograph exists thathas not been input into the first television set 2, the flow instantlyterminates with a message of no un input photograph indicated on display111.

In the above explanation in conjugation with FIGS. 19 to 21, theembodiment of digital camera is explained. However, the origin of theinformation of photograph according to this invention is not limited tothe digital camera, but this invention is also applicable to varioustypes of other origins keeping the information of photograph to beinputted into the television set. For example, a mobile phone withdigital camera or mobile digital photograph storage without picturetaking ability by itself or any other electronics capable of keeping anddisplaying photograph can be combined with a television set to sharephotograph and address for sending e-mail with the photograph attachedaccording to this invention.

FIG. 22 is a flow chart showing the detail of step 350 in FIG. 15 thatrelates to the photograph display and manual selection process. If theflow starts, it is checked in step S472 whether or not such an undecidedphotograph is stored in first memory 6. The undecided photograph means aphotograph input into the first television set 2 from the digital camera29 or the like without the automatic sending mark and has not beendecided to send to the second home by means of a manual operation. Ifany, the flow advances to step S474 to indicate one of such photographson the first display 8 in accordance with a predetermined order. Thismakes it possible to preview the undecided photograph to decide whetheror not to send the photograph. If the photograph is not satisfactory asthe result of the preview, the photograph is left undecided or deleted.

Next, in step S476, it is checked whether or not the previewedphotograph is decided to send. If the decision is made, the flow isadvanced to step S478 to check whether or not phone call key 82 ispressed for inputting voice message to be added to the photograph inadvance to the sending thereof.

If it is determined in step S478 that the phone call key 82 is pressed,the flow advances to step S480 to mute the voice from the firsttelevision set 2 for avoiding the acoustic feedback. Further, in stepS482, microphone 75 of the first remote controller 7 is activated tostart the sampling of voice to be added to the photograph on the firstdisplay 8. Next, in step S484, it is checked whether or not phone callkey 82 is still pressed

If it is determined in step S484 that phone call key 82 is stillpressed, the flow returns to step S480 to continue muting the voice fromthe first television set 2. Thus, the steps S480 to S484 are repeatedunless it is determined in step S484 that phone call key 82 is notpressed.

If it is determined in step S484 that phone call key 82 is not pressedany more, the flow ceases the repetition to stop the sampling of voiceby microphone 57 and the muting of the voice from the first televisionset 2, and the flow advances to step S486.

In step S486, data in a voiceless period is automatically removed fromall data sampled during phone call key 82 is kept in pressed state. Inother words, even if such a defective voice message is sampled that amassage barely starts with an intolerable silence or a message chokesfor an intolerable time, the message is improved to be played back inmore listenable manner with the voiceless period automatically removed.

Next in step S488, a natural pause data is inserted at every break pointof the voice. In more detail, the natural pose is inserted at a pointwhere the voiceless data is removed by way of compensation to avoid sucha message that the voice unnaturally continues at the removed voicelessdata. The natural pose is also added in front of or the end of the voicemessage to avoid such a message that the voice suddenly starts or themassage ends without afterglow.

By means of the above steps S486 and S488 solely or in combination, avoice massage to be added to a photograph is automatically improved evenif it is poorly sampled. Thus, the playback voice message starts with anatural pose after the appearance of new photograph in the automaticslide show, continues without intolerable silence or flustered tone, andends with a natural afterglow before the photograph is replaced by newone in the automatic slide show.

The flow advances to step S490 following to step S490. On the otherhands, if it is not determined in step S478 that the phone call key 82is pressed, the flow directly goes to step S490

In step S490, it is checked whether or not decision closing operation isdone by means of the first remote controller 7. If it is not detected instep S490 that such an operation is done, the flow returns to step S472.If it is not detected in step S476 that the previewed photograph isdecided to send, the flow also returns to step S472.

After the return to step S472 from step S490 or step S476, the stepsS472 to S490 are repeated unless it is determined in step S490 that thedecision closing operation is done, or it is determined in step S472that an undecided photograph stored in first memory 6 does not exist anymore. In step S474, the display of the former photograph is replaced bynew one according to a predetermined order every time the flow comesform step S472 to step S474.

If it is determined in step S490 that the decision closing operation isdone, or if it is determined in step S472 that an undecided photographstored in first memory 6 does not exist any more, the flow goes to stepS492 to check whether or not any photograph is decided to be sent. Ifany, the flow advances to step S494 for slide show process withbackground music, in which a control data for slideshow and backgroundmusic data is added to the photographs if the decided photographs areplural, the flow then terminating. On the other hands, the flowinstantly terminates if it is determined in step S492 that anyphotograph is not decided to be sent at all.

FIG. 23 is a table for showing a unique format of the information to beattached to e-mail exchanged between the first communicator 15 and thesecond communicator 16. The information according to the format is notonly attached to e-mail, but also kept in the first memory 6 or thesecond memory 10 as the first storage information 23 or the secondstorage information 24, respectively. The unique format of informationto be exchanged and stored makes it easy to process or analyze the suchinformation.

In FIG. 23, information format 151 includes four groups consisting ofthe first group 152, the second group 153, the third group 154 and thefourth group 155. The first group 152 is for attribute relating to thearea where the first home 1 or the second home 2 locates, such asbroadcast area or time difference, which are unchanged unless the homemoves to a different area. The second group 153 is for attributerelating to of the operation of the first television set 2 or the secondtelevision set 4, the third group 154 for attribute relating to thecondition of the home electric appliance to be monitored in the firsthome 1 and the second home 3, and the fourth group 155 for attributerelating to other flexible items. Each group includes a plurality ofindependent items each uniformly consist of a set of item name part anditem contents part, which are inseparable from each other.

The information format 151 of the above explained structure is nottreated in one body, but individual groups 152 to 155 are separable tobe independently treated, respectively. Further, the items in each groupare also separable to be independently treated, respectively. Thus, thestructure in information format 151 is only for grouping and forattribute allocation.

In the first group 152, item 156 consists of an item name part for“broadcast area” and a contents part including broadcast area code aswell as date and time. If a change in the broadcast area is caused by amoving of the home, there are two information as to the “area” item,i.e., the former broadcast area with the old date and time and the newbroadcast area with the new date and time when the change occurs.Similarly, the following items each include the information of date andtime at the contents part. Thus, there may be caused a plurality ofinformation with different date and time as to the same item. The dateand time of each information is automatically recorded when eachinformation is created.

The item 157 in the first group 152 consists of an item name part for“time difference” and a contents part including the difference from thestandard time as well as date and time. In an area where summer time isadopted, a first information for winter time difference with date andtime for the beginning of the winter time and a second information forsummer time difference with date and time for the beginning of thesummer time are created in every year.

The item 158 in the second group 153 consists of an item name part for“television set power” and a contents part including a code indicativeof power-on state or power-off state as well as date and time.Similarly, the item 159 in the second group 153 consists of an item namepart for “channel” and a contents part including channel number as wellas date and time, the item 160 consisting of an item name part for“sound volume” and a contents part including numerical value for soundvolume. As to items 158, 159 and 160, new information is created everytime when any change is caused in one of the power, the channel and thesound volume, each being created with different date and time.

The item 161 in the second group 153 consists of an item name part for“video playback” and a contents part including a code indicative of thestart or end of the playback as well as date and time. This informationis created twice, i.e., at the start and at the end of one videoplayback.

Item 161 is not for any information of the contents of video program,but a mere indication that the television set is switched from broadcastprogram receiving mode to a video playback mode. This is the reason whyitem 161 is classified into the second group 153. In other words, item161 has no ID information for identifying the played back program as inthe items classified into the third group 154. As to the code indicativeof the start or end of the playback in the contents part of item 161, itshould be noted that the code indicative of the start of the playback isto be interpreted to indicate that the broadcast program data stored inthe second memory 10 is viewed at that time. This is same as in the caseof code indicative of the start or end of the playback in the contentspart of 169 explained later.

Although not shown in FIG. 23, the second group 153 relating to thetelevision operation also includes an item consists of an item name partfor “timer setting” and a contents part including a code indicative ofwhether or not the timer is set, a set time for starting, and a set timefor ending as well as date and time. Such an item is also automaticallyattached to e-mail which is automatically sent.

In response to the receipt of the information of “timer setting” item,the television set changes its judging condition for monitoredinformation in carrying out the process of FIG. 13 and FIG. 16. Forexample, the interval between the timer setting operation time and theset time for starting something is excluded from the predetermined timeperiod of step S298 in FIG. 13 since it may not abnormal even if nooperation is done in such an interval.

Items 162 to 164 in the third group 154 relate to the condition of thehome electric appliances #1 to #3 each independently consisting of anitem name part for “appliance #1” or the like and a contents partincluding a code indicative of the in use or out of use of the homeelectric appliance as well as date and time. Among the three homeelectric appliances, appliance #3 relates to a second item 165 inaddition to the first item 164 named “appliance #3-1”, the second item165 consisting of an item name part for “appliance #3-2” and a contentspart including numeric information indicative of temperature set toappliance #3 as well as date and time. As in appliance #3, some homeelectric appliance causes a plurality of items if such an electricappliance includes a plurality of monitored information.

Items 166 in the third group 154 does not relate to a home electricappliances, but to home equipment or joinery to be monitored, item 166consisting of an item name part for “equipment #1” or the like and acontents part including a code indicative of its state as well as dateand time. For example, if a door is to be monitored, the contents codesare representative of open state and close state. Such contents codesinclude not only the two, but also more than three such as lock andunlock of the door lock turned at the outside or those at the inside.Information of the above items for appliance, equipment and joinery orthe like in the home can be analyzed in combination since these arenormally used in a regular order, such as shutting off home electricappliance followed by turning the lock of the door at the outside in thecase of leaving home. The date and time in the contents part in eachitem is useful in such an analysis or historical analysis.

Further, in response to the decision of leaving or coming home on thereceived information of the item relating to door lock, for example, thetelevision set changes its judging condition of time for monitoredinformation in the process of FIG. 13 and FIG. 16.

Although not shown in FIG. 23, the third group 154 also includes an itemconsists of an item name part for “long vacation” and a contents partincluding a code indicative of long absence in vacation, the leavingdate and time, and the returning date and time as well as date and timeof creating the item. Such an item is also automatically attached toe-mail which is automatically sent for informing the other home of anirregular change in the life of own home. This item can be created byoperating the first remote controller 7 or the second remote controller11, the date and time of creating such an item being automatically addedto the contents part as in all the other items.

In response to the receipt of the information of “long vacation” item,the television set changes its judging condition for monitoredinformation in carrying out the process of FIG. 13 and FIG. 16. Forexample, the interval between the leaving date and time and thereturning date and time is excluded from the predetermined time periodof step S298 in FIG. 13 since it may not abnormal even if no operationis done in such an interval. In place of such exclusion, a step is addedto detect an operation done in the interval between the leaving date andtime and the returning date and time to judge an abnormality since anyoperation in the absence interval is suspiciously done by an invadingstranger.

The number of items in the third group 154 can be increased independence on the increase in number of objects or of items in the sameobject.

Items 167 in the fourth group 155 relates to the registration of theregularly viewed series broadcast program and consists of an item namepart for “series program” and a contents part including ID foridentifying the series broadcast program, a code indicative of whetherto add or delete the program to or from the registration as well as dateand time. The ID may be the code unique to the program or a combinationof channel, the day of the week, and the starting time.

Items 168 in the fourth group 155 relates to the photograph and consistsof an item name part for “photograph viewing” and a contents partincluding ID for identifying the photograph as well as date and timewhen the photograph is viewed. The generated or received information ofitem 168 is to be compared with the ID for the photograph stored in thefirst memory 6 or the second memory 10. If both the ID's coincide witheach other, icon 55 in FIG. 2, which indicates that a photograph issent, or icon 63 in FIG. 3, which indicates that a photograph isreceived, disappears.

Items 169 in the fourth group 155 relates to the broadcast programrecorded or downloaded to be stored into the first memory 6 or thesecond memory 10 and consists of an item name part for “stored program”and a contents part including ID for identifying the broadcast programstored, a code indicative of the start or end of the playback as well asdate and time. This information is created twice, i.e., at the start andat the end of one video playback.

In the above explanation, the information exchange between the firsttelevision set 2 and the second television set 4 is carried out by anattachment to e-mail through server on the internet. However, thisinvention is not limited to the embodiment on e-mail and attachment, butis applicable to other types of information exchange between the firsttelevision set 2 and the second television set 4, such as bidirectionaldigital broadcast network or communication way other than e-mail throughserver on the internet.

However, the information exchange in the embodiment through a uniqueformat of information automatically attached to e-mail which isautomatically sent is advantageous in that the manner is simple forinforming the other television set of the condition of the owntelevision set and that the system can be realize on a currentlyexisting hardware including television set combined with a personalcomputer having e-mail sending function.

This advantage is received not only by a group of private homes such asthe first home 1 and the second home 2, but also widely received byvarious system including television set. For example, if the address ofthe other television set for automatically sending e-mail is replaced byan address of a rating company, an audience share survey can be easilycarried out. Of course, the rating company makes an agreement with agreat number of audience homes to automatically send e-mail every timewhen the channel of television set in each home is changed according tothis invention. Thus, this invention presents a novel and easy audiencerating survey system of higher reliability and efficiency than aconventional system on a sampling by a special apparatus and statisticsmethod.

Further, the feature and advantage for sensing abnormality on the basisof actions of a person to the remote controller explained in steps S362and S364 is related not only to the remote controller for the televisionset, but also widely relates to various handy appliances, such as a landphone or a mobile phone. In other words, the feature of steps S362 andS364 can be applicable to a land phone or a mobile phone to improvethem. In other words, in response to the sensing of the abnormality insteps S362 and S364, the improved land phone or mobile phoneautomatically puts a call in to a predetermined phone number andautomatically transmits a prepared voice message when connection ismade.

Thus, a person even in panic or off his or her truck can report theemergency on the land phone or mobile phone by means of a simple actionnot to be taken by a normal person, but is apt to be taken by a personin panic or off the truck. Further, a possibility of erroneous emergencyreport is relatively low because the assumed action in steps S362 andS364 would not be taken by a normal person. Further the improvement doesnot require any regular exercise and maintenance to keep the reliabilityof emergency report since the land phone or the mobile phone is in dailyuse.

In the embodiment above, it is explained that photograph taken by adigital camera is exchanged between the first home 1 and the second home3. However, image information to be exchanged between television sets inaccordance with this invention is not limited to the still image such asphotograph, but information of moving image taken by digital camera or amovie camera can be attached to e-mail exchanged between the homes.

What is claimed is:
 1. A communication appliance capable ofcommunicating with an outside counterpart comprising: a communicatorarranged to communicate with the outside counterpart; an operationsensor arranged to sense an operation for communication setting with theoutside counterpart; an authentication unit arranged to carry out anauthentication process for the outside counterpart in response to theoperation sensor; and a controller arranged to have the communicatorsend the communication setting data to the outside counterpart if theauthentication in the authentication unit is successful.
 2. Thecommunication appliance according to claim 1, wherein the controller isarranged not to send the communication setting data if theauthentication in the authentication unit is failed.
 3. Thecommunication appliance according to claim 1, wherein the communicationsetting data is for registering the communication appliance into theoutside counterpart.
 4. The communication appliance according to claim1, wherein the communication setting data includes an address of thecommunication appliance.
 5. The communication appliance according toclaim 1 further comprising a memory for storing the communicationsetting data.
 6. The communication appliance according to claim 1,wherein the communicator is arranged to send and receive informationdata to and from the outside counterpart.
 7. A communication appliancecapable of communicating with an outside counterpart comprising: acommunicator arranged to communicate with the outside counterpart; areceipt sensor arranged to sense a receipt of the communication settingdata from the outside counterpart through the communicator; anauthentication unit arranged to carry out an authentication process forthe outside counterpart in response to the receipt sensor; and acontroller arranged to carry out the communication setting if theauthentication in the authentication unit is successful.
 8. Thecommunication appliance according to claim 7, wherein the controller isarranged not to carry out the communication setting if theauthentication in the authentication unit is failed.
 9. Thecommunication appliance according to claim 7, wherein the communicationsetting data is for registering the outside counterpart into thecommunication appliance.
 10. The communication appliance according toclaim 7, wherein the communication setting data includes an address ofthe outside counterpart.
 11. The communication appliance according toclaim 7 further comprising a memory for storing the communicationsetting data.
 12. The communication appliance according to claim 7,wherein the communicator is arranged to send and receive informationdata to and from the outside counterpart.
 13. A communication appliancecapable of communicating with an outside counterpart comprising: acommunicator arranged to communicate with the outside counterpart; anoperation sensor arranged to sense an operation for communicationsetting with the outside counterpart; a receipt sensor arranged to sensea receipt of the communication setting data from the outside counterpartthrough the communicator; an authentication unit arranged to carry outan authentication process for the outside counterpart in response to oneof the operation sensor and the receipt sensor; and a controllerarranged to have the communicator send the communication setting data tothe outside counterpart if the authentication in the authentication unitin response to the operation sensor is successful and to carry out thecommunication setting if the authentication in the authentication unitin response to the receipt sensor is successful.
 14. The communicationappliance according to claim 13, wherein the controller is arranged notto send the communication setting data if the authentication in theauthentication unit in response to the operation sensor is failed. 15.The communication appliance according to claim 13, wherein thecontroller is arranged not to carry out the communication setting if theauthentication in the authentication unit in response to the receiptsensor is failed.
 16. The communication appliance according to claim 13,wherein the communication setting data sent through the communicator isfor registering the communication appliance into the outsidecounterpart.
 17. The communication appliance according to claim 13,wherein the communication setting data received through the communicatoris for registering the outside counterpart into the communicationappliance.
 18. The communication appliance according to claim 13,wherein the communication setting data sent through the communicatorincludes an address of the communication appliance.
 19. Thecommunication appliance according to claim 13, wherein the communicationsetting data received through the communicator includes an address ofthe outside counterpart.
 20. The communication appliance according toclaim 13 further comprising a memory for storing the communicationsetting data.